A witch's Life before Hogwarts
by Dumbledore'sWisdom
Summary: Sophia muggle-born witch who is accepted into Hogwarts. What she doesn't know is that her best friend Caragh and her entire family are also witches and wizards and Caragh is also accepted into Hogwarts. Find out how being a witch completely changed Phia's life DISCLAIMER: Everything HP related is not mine. ALL OC's are mine. HIATUS
1. The Nightmare

Authors Notes: Hey readers. I was looking through my FF and I noticed the first three chapters are really short so I decided to edit all three chapters in to one chapter.

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Chapter 1 - The Nightmare, The Proposal and The Attack

30th July 2007

During the summer holidays the Ridge pub, owned by the Martin's, was busy every day so Elijah, the Martin's eldest child, would take his six-year-old twin sisters on days out to keep them busy. His parents had asked him to babysit the girls last night as the pub was open til two am and the girls would be restless if they had to sleep above the pub where his parents and the girls lived. He and his girlfriend of three years, Myra, loved the girls and were always happy to look after them for the night. He was taking them to the park for a picnic. Elijah hadn't had the opportunity to spend much time with the girls lately because he had been in university for the last four years training as a primary school teacher. However now he had finished university, top of his class, he was looking forward to spending as much time as possible with the girls before his new teaching job started in September. He had managed to get a job at the primary school his sisters were at, St Andrews primary school.

* * *

On the morning of the picnic he had woken up early to make the picnic that morning. It was going to be a special picnic because he was going to propose to Myra and he wanted the girls to be there to make it extra special. He had just finished putting everything into his rucksack when he heard a scream from upstairs. He ran up the stairs two steps at a time a into the girls bedroom where Myra was already comforting Sophia. He walked over and sat at the side of the double bed the girls shared when they slept over.

"What happened Myra, is she ok?" he asked slightly breathless after running upstairs.

"She's fine." Myra replied in a soothing voice. "She just had a nightmare. That's all."

"Oh Phia, come here darling. Why don't you tell me about the nightmare?" He hushed as she crawled over to his lap and snuggled into his shoulder.

"I was... in the park...and... and... you were there." She said in between sobs whilst pointing at him. "And Myra...she was there... and Soraya was there too." She continued pointing at his girlfriend and then at her twin sister who was sat up in bed listening to the story.

"What happened next, Phia?" Elijah asked his little sister, slightly concerned as he couldn't remember the last time she had a nightmare. She was too brave and daring to be scared in her dreams.

"Me and Raya... went for a walk... in the tree... and there was a... big dog." Sophia had started to cry again as she continued relaying the story to her big brother who was hugging her tightly to make her feel safe. "He tried to eat us. Then I woke up. I don't want to go back to sleep, Eli, please don't make me." She begged her brother hugging him tightly.

"It's ok now Phia, there's no dog here, you are safe." Elijah replied. He checked his watch which stated it was just after nine am. "It's nine o'clock now so we might as well all get up and have some breakfast. How about I make us all some pancakes. Would you like that Phia?" He asked his sister who was still pressed tightly to him.

"Yes please, Eli, but only if you flip the pancake." She replied.

"Don't I always." He said in return which made Sophia laugh. She let go of her brother and ran out the room with her sister following closely behind her.

"You are so good with kids, Eli. No wonder you wanted to be a teacher." Myra said before kissing him.

"I love you Myra." He stated looking deep into her eyes before locking lips with her.

"I love you too Eli". She murmured as he began to kiss her neck.

"Eww. That's disgusting." Sophia and Soraya said in unison. Myra giggled as Eli started to turn red in embarrassment.

"When are we getting our pancakes?" Soraya asked angrily.

"Fine, fine, let's go downstairs then." He answered. He followed his three girls downstairs and into the kitchen where they sat at the table chatting about hair or something. He went over to the cupboard and got the equipment and ingredients need to make the pancakes.

After breakfast, the girls got changed while Eli checked for what seemed like the hundredth time to make sure the engagement ring was still in his pocket. It had been his grandmother's ring and when she died last year she left it to him in her will. He loved the ring it was elegant and beautiful just like Myra and it had a sparkling emerald stone in the middle.

* * *

When they reached the park Eli found a good patch of grass and laid the picnic blanket down. He looked towards the play area and chuckled to himself as he watched Myra trying to push both girls on the swings at the same time. 'She is going to be a great mother one day' he thought to himself as he set the food down on the blanket. When he was finished he called the girls over for lunch. They sat and chatted whilst they ate. It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue and there wasn't a hint of clouds. There was a slight breeze which made the air cooler. After lunch the girls asked if they could play in the trees behind them. It wasn't too far away and Eli wanted to be alone with Myra so he could propose so he agreed. Once the girls had left Eli turned around to look deep into his girlfriends eyes. He loved looking into her brown eyes; it was like looking into a mug of hot chocolate.

"Why are you staring at me like that?" Myra asked him after a minute.

"Like what, babe?" He asked in return.

"Like you're on drugs or something, you look too happy.

"Can't a man look into the eyes of his beautiful girlfriend anymore?" He replied faking a hurt look.

"Ok, seriously, tell me what you're up to?" she demanded looking a bit worried about why her boyfriend was acting stranger than usual.

"Well if you must know I need to ask you something important and I was thinking the best way to ask you." He stated, looking at her from behind his curtain of shoulder length dirty blonde hair.

"Oh, I'm curious now. Ask me. Ask me." She giggled as she straightened up to hear what he had to say.

"Ok then. Stand up." He said nervously. "Please." He added when he saw his girlfriend disapproving look. She hated being told what to do but obeyed.

"Are you ready?" He asked her with a smile.

"Yes." She replied sounding quite bored that he was asking her such a pointless question. The suddenly he went into his pocket and pulled out a small box and kneeled down before her, still holding her hand. She locked down at him with her mouth opened in shock as tears started to fall silently down her cheek.

"Miss Myra Alicia Johnson, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife so I can look into your beautiful hot chocolate eyes for the rest of my life?" He asked her. His heart was beating faster than he thought was humanly possible. She had let a small laugh escape her lips at the mention of her eyes. Did she think this was a joke? Oh I hope not. I wish she would say something. He was about to stand up when she placed her hand on his chin and lifted it up so they were looking into each other's eyes.

"Nothing would make me happier than becoming your wife." She answered quietly. She took the beautiful ring out of the box and placed it on her ring finger. She looked down at her new fiancée and couldn't help smile as she kneeled down in front of him and kissed him.

* * *

"Phia look. Eli and Myra are kissing again." Soraya giggled as she watched them the trees. When she realised her sister had not replied she turned around and saw that her sister was nowhere around. She walked deeper into the trees and saw her sister behind a tree. Curiously she walked over to her sister's hiding place and saw that she was not alone. There was a large dog growling at Sophia. It started walking towards the two girls. Soraya let out an ear piercing scream as she turned and ran away in the direction of her brother.

Eli heard a scream which was similar to the one he had heard this morning. He jumped up and ran into the trees in the direction he heard the scream. He had no idea where his sisters were.

"Sophia. Soraya. Where are you? Answer me please." He shouted into the trees. His heart felt as if it had completely stopped as he ran deeper into the trees. He stopped running and looked around trying to spot even a glimpse of one of his sister but was unlucky. He started to run again when he heard a growl come from behind a group of trees nearby. He went over and looked at what was making the noise. What he saw made him freeze up out of terror. He saw his little sister, Sophia, stood about two meters from a large black dog that was growling at her. He wanted to run and grab her or scream for her to run but he couldn't move or speak.

* * *

Sophia was staring into the eyes of the big dog that had haunted her dreams the previous night. This was the part where she woke up screaming. She closed her eyes hoping that when she opened them she would be in the double bed she shared with her sister. When she opened them she saw that the dog had moved closer. She felt something warm pulsing around her body and making her skin tingle. She suddenly felt a lot braver as if she knew everything was going to be alright. She glared back in the dog's eye when suddenly out of nowhere a large gust of wind started spinning around them and her hair was billowing out behind her. The dog made a leap at her. She closed her eyes and she pushed her hands out palms first to try and push the dog away but the impact never came. She opened her eyes to see the dog lying about six meters away from her looking injured. She stood looking at it wondering how it had injured itself and how it had gotten so far away when it had been so close a few seconds earlier. 'Did I do this' she thought as she looked down at her hands. She then heard a twig snap close by and she turned into that direction. She couldn't see anyone or anything but decided it wasn't safe in the trees anymore so she turned and ran back to her brother hoping that whoever was out there hadn't seen what had happened.

* * *

Unsure on what he should do after witnessing what he just had he decided to slowly back away before his sister could see him. However, on his retreat he accidently stood on a twig. His sister had been looking at her hands wondering if she had been the one to make the dog fly five meters through the air but she was now looking in his general direction. He now felt terrified in case she did the same to him but she quickly turned and ran away. Elijah went over and had a look at the dog. It was still breathing but it appeared to have broken one of its legs after fallen on it awkwardly. He decided he didn't want to be there when it woke up so he ran in the direct his sister had. When he made it back to Myra he saw that both his sisters were back.

"What happened? Who screamed? Is anyone hurt?" he asked as he got closer. Soraya ran over and hugged him and jumped into her story of what happened.

"I was watching you and Myra from the trees and I turned around and Phia was gone. I went to look for her and I found her near with a big dog. I screamed and ran away, when I got back to Myra, I told her what had happened and she said you had gone in looking for us." She spoke so fast that he had to wait a moment for it all to sink in. He looked at Sophia and saw her sat on the grass shivering even though it was the middle of summer.

"Sophia, can you tell me what happened after Soraya left?" He asked her from a safe distance. He didn't want to get too close in case it intimidated her and she sent him flying.

Sophia looked up at her brother and shook her head. She didn't want anyone to know what had happened. Instead she stood up and walked over to him wanting a hug but when she held her arms out he flinched and jumped away from her. The reaction on his face looked like he was terrified of her. 'It must have been him who had made the twig snap.' She thought as she put her arms around her body and hugged herself tightly. 'He must have seen everything. It must have been me who made the dog move. That's why he doesn't want to go near me. Who would he when there's something wrong with me?' She though as she watched her brother pack away the picnic.

'I shouldn't have flinched.' He thought to himself. 'She's going to think I hate her or that I think she is a freak. I don't think that at all. I don't know what to think. I haven't been around her constantly for a while so maybe this has happened before. I'll have to ask Mum and Dad.'

"Myra. How about we take Phia and Raya to the Pub for tea tonight? We can celebrate our engagement."He knew his voice had shaken a bit at the mention of Sophia's name but he hoped his fiancée hadn't noticed.

"Erm, sure. We can tell your parents and celebrate together." She replied uncertain that it was the best thing to do after the events of today. She wasn't sure what had happened in the trees after Eli had left but she had never seen Eli look more worried and scared then he did right now.


	2. The Pub

Author's Note: Hello readers. Here's chapter 4. I know these chapters are quite small but i promise they will get longer the further we get into the story. :) Please review.

Chapter 4

Ridge Pub looked like any other Pub in England. It had a large outside seating area for the summer which was nearly always taken. There was a long bar at the back of the building next to the kitchens where the food was prepared. In one corner there was a raised area for adults with a pool table and fruit machines. In the opposite corner was a family seating area with bigger tables for bigger families. Everywhere else was filled with booths or tables and chairs. Next to the kitchen entrance was another door which led up stairs to the living area. This is where the Martin's had lived for the past 28 years. It was quite a large living area considering it was all on one level. There were four bedrooms, one bathroom, a small kitchen area and a dining/living room. Alexander and Florance had the master bedroom which they also used as a study. Elijah, their eldest child and only son, had the second largest room but after he left for university they had turned it into a guest room. Their six-year-old twin daughters, Sophia and Soraya, had shared the third room until their sixth birthday on the 5th June. The fourth room had been a toy room for the twins but they had turned it into a bedroom for Sophia. When Elijah had finished university he had decided to buy a flat with his girlfriend, Myra. When the pub was going to be open late, Florrie would ask Eli if the twins could stay at his place since he had a spare room. The twins adored their older brother, Florrie hadn't wanted her children to have such a big age gap but it just happened. Alex had only wanted one child, preferable a son to take over the business, and after Eli was born Alex was more than happy. By the time Florrie had reached 40 she had given up hope on having more children but then when she was 44 she fell pregnant with twin and she was ecstatic. Alex wasn't thrilled but he grew to like the idea of having children running around them. Eli was 16 when they told him they were pregnant. They hadn't known how he was going to take it but he was so happy for them and he helped his dad paint the nursery. He had always helped out with the twins when they were born. He would play with them and babysit when both Alex and Florrie needed to work downstairs in the pub. Eli was disappointed that he wouldn't see them every day when he went to university but he came home some weekends and every holiday. He would also call every Sunday to chat with the twins even though they didn't really have anything to say they would just enjoy hearing their brother voice.

* * *

Florrie looked over to see her son stood at the bar waiting to order. She smiled at him but when he didn't return the smile and instead returned a look of terror she started to panic. 'What had happened?' She thought as she walked over to her son.

"Hello darling, I wasn't expecting you til later on. Have you come for tea with the twins?"She asked her son who seem distracted by a thought.

"Hmm... What... Oh yeah. Me and Myra took the girls for a picnic in the park and thought we'd come to the pub for teas to celebrate." He said wondering where Myra and the girls were.

"So where are they?" Florrie asked looking around the bar trying to find her children but not haven any luck so she glanced back at her son waiting for his reply but he seemed side tracked. She was about to ask him what was wrong with him when she saw her twins.

"Mammy." Soraya screamed as she flung herself into her mother's arms.

"Hello darling. What a lovely surprise. Have you had a nice time at Eli's?" She asked Soraya.

"Yes Mammy. Eli made us pancakes for breakfast because Phia had a nightmare about a big dog and then we went to the park for a picnic and a big dog attacked Phia but I ran away."

Florrie nearly dropped from shock her daughter when she told the story about what happened at the park. She looked at Eli who had turned paler than he usually was after listening to the same story. He turned to head over to the stairs that lead upstairs when he nearly crashed into Sophia who had been stood next to him without him realising. Sophia raised her hands to balance herself but this action caused Eli to flinch and jump away from her again. She looked up at her Mother who was had a confused look on her face after watching her 22 year old son jump a mile because her six year old daughter raised her hands.

"Mam, I need to tell to you about something." He said finally regaining his voice after nearing crashing into Sophia. "Myra, can you get a table with Phia and Raya while I talk to my Mam and Dad about something." He asked her.

"Sure babe, we'll decide what we want to eat." She replied a little confused but not wanting to question him. She led the girls over to a nearby table with four chairs. She turned to ask Phia where she wanted to sit but realise she wasn't there. "Eli, have you seen Phia?" She called over to her fiancée who was making his way across the pub to the stairs leading the living area for the Martin's.

"No, she was next to me a moment ago." Eli replied whilst taking a glance around the pub. He then thought back to where Sophia had gone after he nearly crashed into her. It was then that she had run outside with tears in her eyes. He turned and ran out of the door he saw her leave through and looked around the car park. His heart rate was starting to pick up when he couldn't see her anywhere. "Phia, where are you?" He shouted in the hope she would answer him but he heard nothing. 'Where has she gone' he thought as he ran out of the car park and onto the main road.


	3. The Search for Phia

Author's note: Please enjoy. Please review.

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Chapter 5 - The Search for Phia

Eli had run up to the end of the main road and back down again in the search for his sister but he hadn't found her yet. He had then gone back into the pub to tell his parents. He saw his mother sat at a table with Myra and Raya looking at Myra's engagement ring. When his mother saw Eli drenched with sweat she jumped up and ran over to him.

"Where have you been? Myra said you went outside to talk to Phia. What's wrong with you two? You jump a mile when she holds her arms up. Why was she outside in the first place? Where is she now? And why are you wet?" She interrogated.

"Mam, there's no time to explain. Phia's run away and I can't find her. I've run up and down the street and she's nowhere." He said between taking deep breaths. "Dad!" He screamed when he saw his father coming out of the kitchen. "Phia's run away. You've got to come help look."

His father stood behind the bar staring at his son. Everyone in the bar had fallen quite at the sound of Eli screaming at him. People started to whisper, he couldn't hear what they were talking about but he had a pretty good idea. "What?" He asked in a whisper.

"She ran out of the pub about ten minutes ago and I've looked up and down the street but I can't find her. Come on. Let's go." He yelled at his father annoyed that he wasn't moving.

"We'll help too. Won't we lads?"Dave announced. Dave was a regular at the pub and was the coach of an over 25's football team and they had just finished practice and come in for a drink like they did after every practice.

"Thanks mate. We'll need all the help we can get." Eli replied. "Myra, can you call the police and tell them what happened. I don't think Mam's up to it." He asked his fiancée whilst looking at his mother who was sat in a chair staring into space.

"Ok lads lets go." Eli ordered as he, his Dad and the footballers went into the car park to devise a plan.

"Right, so I've been up and down the main road but I didn't find her. We're going to split into groups and check the places nearby. If anyone finds her take her straight back to the pub and wait there. Everyone is to meet back at the pub in an hour. I didn't look down the streets that come off the main road. So you three-" he said pointing at three footballers. "-go down the side streets looking." The three lads ran off towards the end of the main road to start from the bottom and work their way up. "You three-" he said now pointing at another three footballers. "-go check the park down the road." The other three lads ran off in the direction of the park. "And don't forget to check the trees." He shouted after them. One of them gave him thumbs up to show that he got the message. "You three-" he said now pointing at another three footballers. "-go check the fields behind the pub." The lads ran back into the pub to go out the back door that backed onto the fields. "Us four are going to go a check the estate over there. It's very big so we'll need to split up. Ok let's go."

* * *

When they arrived the four men split up to look for Sophia. Eli went straight to the small play park that was on the estate. He looked in the surrounding trees and bushes as well but didn't find her anywhere. He asked a mother who was in the park with her children if he had seen a six year old girl with long blonde hair run by but she said she hadn't. Eli ran around the whole estate looking for her. He met back up with his dad, Dave and the other footballer who hadn't had any luck in finding her either. The hour was nearly up so they decided to go back to the pub in the hope that the other lads had found her.

* * *

When they got to the car park of the pub, they found all the customers from outside had gone and all footballers were sat outside looking disappointed at themselves. Eli realised they too had been unlucky. When Eli and his dad went inside there was two police officers sat down at a large table with Mam, Myra and Soraya. They turned to look at them and when Eli shook his head his mother burst into tears. His father ran over to his wife and comforted her. Eli walked over to the table and took a seat next to his fiancée who took his hand and squeezed it tight reassuring. He looked up at the policemen.

"So what are you going to do to find my sister?" He asked them. They turned to look at him.

"Well we will do everything we can to find your sister but first we need to ask your mother and father a few questions." One policeman replied. "Can you, your girlfriend and sister wait over at another table while we question you're parents. We will need to question you too."

"No." Eli answered. "She's my sister; I have every right to stay here."

"Fine but you're other sister is too young so maybe your girlfriend could take her upstairs." The first policeman said not to happy at the way he was being spoken too.

"Yes, I'll take Raya upstairs and make her a sandwich. She must be hungry." Myra stated as she led Soraya away from the table and up the stairs.

"Ok. Mr and Mrs Martin, has your daughter shown any strange behaviour in the past 24 hours. Anything that might indicate she was planning on running away." The second policeman asked calmly.

"We don't know. The twins stayed at Eli's house last night because the pub was open late and the girls get restless when they don't sleep properly." His father answered looking at Eli.

Eli realised he was going to have to tell them about the dog and what he saw his sister do. 'They would never believe me' he thought as the policemen made a note in their notebook. The turned to look at Eli who had turned paler then he was before if that was even possible.

"Maybe you can answer the question Mr Elijah." The first policeman asked in a sweet voice that didn't suit him.

"Well she was normal all last night but this morning she woke up screaming about a nightmare she had." He said. He was about to continue when the policemen looked at each other in confusion.

"There's nothing strange about a little girl having a nightmare, Mr Elijah." The first policemen replied trying to hold back a smile.

"Well I know that, but I can't remember the last time Phia had a nightmare. It was just unusual. Anyway she said in her dream she was in the park with Me, Myra and Raya and her and Raya went into the trees where a big dog attacked them but she woke up before it could get them." Eli said before he was interrupted again by the first policeman.

"I don't see how the details of the dream will help with our investigation, Mr Elijah." He smirked.

"Well you would see how it would help your investigation if you stopped interrupting me." Elijah spat back at the first policeman.

The second policeman let out a quite laugh at his last comment so Eli glared at him.

"I'll continue shall I?" He asked them rhetorically. "We went to the park for a picnic and after lunch I was kind of distracted so when the girls asked if they could play in tree I said they could but no to go in too far."

"Why were you distracted?" The second policeman asked whilst making notes.

"I was wondering the best way to propose to my girlfriend." He answered not really sure why it was any of their business.

"Oh. Congratulations Mr Elijah." The second policemen said with a smile. "Well carry on."

"After Myra put the ring on, we heard a scream come from out of the trees. It sounded like one of the girls, so I ran into the trees and looked around for the girls but I couldn't see them. I then heard a growl come from behind a group of trees so I went over and saw a large dog moving closer towards Phia." He had started to get angry as he remembered he hadn't done anything to protect his sister.

"Like in the dream she had?" The first policeman asked with doubt.

"Yes. Anyway I was terrified and I couldn't move or speak. I wanted so badly to grab her and run or yell for her to run but I couldn't. I just stood there staring. Then-"he paused unsure of what he should say. The first policeman already didn't like him and what would they think if he told them that he saw his sister push the dog five meters into the air without touching it. 'It was like magic but that's stupid there no such thing as magic. Is there?' he thought.

"Then?" The first policeman asked waiting for him to continue.

"Then she turned around and ran away before it could attack her." He answered quickly. He hoped they believed him but the look on the policemen's face was hard to read. "I ran after her and caught up with her and Soraya back at the picnic blanket. We then decided to come here for tea to celebrate the engagement." Eli ended his story by looking at his parent. His mother was crying into his father's chest whilst he hugged her tight with his mouth slightly open in shock from his son's story.

"Ok, thank you Mr Elijah, we will be able to-" the second policeman started before he was interrupted.

"NO!" Florrie screamed as she turned to look at her son. Her face was red and she still had tears pouring down her cheeks.

"Excuse me, Mrs Martin." The second policeman asked as he exchanged confused looks with his partner.

"Tell them about when you got to the pub, Eli. Tell them about how you jumped a mile just because you're little sister raised her arms out. You looked terrified of her. What aren't you telling us? I know you're lying, Elijah Alex." Florrie spat at her son. She knew it was his fault her daughter was gone but she didn't know why. She just wanted answers.

Elijah flinched when his mother spat out his full name. He knew he was in trouble when she did that. He looked from his mother to the policemen. The first policeman looked slightly amused, where as the second policeman looked extremely confused.

"Are you lying to us Mr Elijah?" the second policeman asked politely.

Elijah looked over at his mother who looked at him with a look of disappointment. He hated disappointing his parents. Both of them were strict and were only satisfied with the best. He had felt so proud when he came top of the class in his class at university. He thought it might make up for the fact he hadn't wanted to take over the bar but they would always be disappointed in him for not following in their footsteps. He turned to the Policemen who were sat waiting for his answer but he had no idea what to say.


	4. The House of Phelps

Chapter 6 - The House of Phelps

Sophia walked into the pub and stood next to her brother quietly. She didn't feel like talking to her mother or hugging her like Raya had, so she stood silently. Suddenly Eli had turned and nearly crashed into her. She held out her arms to balance herself but she realised this was a mistake as soon as her brother flinched and jumped backwards. Her brother had jumped even further than he had at the park. He looked terrified. Their mother had seen it happen as well. Sophia looked up at her mother wondering what she was thinking but she just looked confused.

"Mam, I need to tell to you about something."Elijah had said. She realised that her brother was going to tell her parents that she had sent a dog flying across the air without even touching it.

She turned and ran out the door; she didn't know where she was going but knew that when her parents found out they would send her to some hospital because she was different. Sophia ran onto the main road and looked around. She didn't know the area very well so didn't know where to hide. She was smart girl and knew that she shouldn't even attempt to cross the road so she ran down the street. Half way down the street show came to a stop at another road. She turned and ran down the street which led into the estate. After a while Sophia stopped running and looked around her surroundings. She had no idea where she was and she was tired after running for so long. She noticed a large bush in someone front garden that stretched all around the front of their large house. She went over and hid herself behind it in case Eli or her father came past looking for her.

Just as this thought crossed her mind she heard her brother shout out for her. She didn't want to be found so she went over to the gate of the large house and tried the handle to see if it would open. It did so she rushed inside shutting it behind her hoping that the people who lived in the house wouldn't come into their back garden. She peaked around the door and saw her brother run past. She let out a sigh of relief and slid down the wall until she was sat on the floor. She closed her eyes to think about where she was going go from here when she fell asleep.

* * *

31st July 2007

"Sovereign, it's your turn to take the rubbish out." Anastasya shouted up the stairs at her sixteen year old son. "And do it before breakfast." She added.

"Yes mother." A cheerful reply came from upstairs.

"Why do we have to take the rubbish out anyway?" Acuzio asked moodily as his mother came back into the kitchen. "We're wizards. Why don't you just magic it away?" He asked with a scowl on his face. Acuzio hated the fact that his parents made him act like a muggle. The even made him attend muggle primary school. He saw no point and couldn't wait until he went to Hogwarts in two years like his older brother Sovereign. Sovereign was sixteen and in his sixth year at Hogwarts. He had been placed in Hufflepuff like their mother had been when she went to Hogwarts. To Acuzio, it was an embarrassment, he wanted to be in Slytherin when he went. Acuzio was just like any other Slytherin; he hated muggles, he hated muggle-borns, he was cunning and ambitious. Everything a good Slytherin needed.

"You know why, Cuz. What would the muggles think if we didn't take rubbish out once a week like everyone else on the estate? We have to act like a muggle or we could risk exposing our secret to the muggle world." Ana explained to her son again. She knew he hated pretending to be a muggle and living in such a large muggle community without another wizarding family around for miles. She also knew he hated going to Muggle School but the muggle neighbours would ask questions if they saw their kids weren't going to school.

"Don't call me Cuz." He spat at his mother through gritted teeth. He hated it when anyone called him it. "My name is Acuzio. You should know, you're the one who gave me the stupid name." He added before storming upstairs and crashing into Sovereign on the stairs.

"Whoa, Acuzio calm down its way to early to be this angry." Sovereign said calmly at his nine year old brother as he checked his watch which stated it was 7:30am. Acuzio seemed to have been in a bad mood ever since he got back from Hogwarts for the summer holidays. Sovereign had woken up to find an owl on his window ledge with a letter from Hogwarts attached to his leg. The letter had announced that he was head boy this year. He had put on favourite yellow cloak, Hufflepuff colours, and attached the badge to it before bouncing to show his mother.

"Good morning, mother." He said happily as he kissed his mother on her cheek.

"Well aren't you in a good mood this morning. I just wish my other son's were this happy."She said a little sadly.

"I saw Acuzio on the stairs. He hasn't looked in a good mood since I've been back. I hope it's not because I'm here." Sovereign asked his mother looking a little worried.

"Oh Sov, it's not you, he's been like this all year. I wouldn't worry about him." She replied in a soothing tone as she hugged him. "You're so kind and helpful that you couldn't do any wrong even if you tried." She chuckled.

"How's Balthazar then if your son's aren't in a good mood." He asked looking over at one year old brother sat in his highchair.

"Nothing get's by you does it. He's just angry because he's teething. You're father is bringing home a sleeping draught to help him sleep better." She said as she stifled a yawn. "Wait… why are you where a cloak. Are you going to Diagon Alley?" She asked him with a look of confusion.

"Nope. I just thought today was a nice day to wear a cloak." He replied as he puffed out his chest so his mother could see his badge.

"Is that a head boy badge, Sov?" She asked with her eyes wide in shock and pride. "Wow, darling, I'm so proud of you. Wait til you're father gets back from the late shift. He's going to be so excited. Although this doesn't get you out from rubbish duty, take it outside now. He should be back in a couple of hours." His father worked for the ministry of magic in the misuse of muggle artefact office. He loved it; he would always be bringing home a new muggle object to show his family. Last night he brought home something called a toilet plunger, he stuck it on the wall in the dining room. His father was definitely the strangest man he knew. He would spend hours outside in the garden on his days off, just looking at the different flowers and plants he had planted or he would do something called meditation which is some form of muggle stress reliever.

"Yes, mother." He replied excitedly as he went over to the bin to get the rubbish out. 'I can't wait to see Dad's reaction' he thought as he opened the door and put on some willies that were lying on the back door step.

He turned the corner to head toward the gate when he saw a little girl lying next to the gate. He dropped the rubbish bag in shock and went over to the girl. She seemed to be asleep. Sovereign shook her bare shoulders to wake her up but shuddered when he felt how cold she was. She was only wearing a pair of shorts, a t-shirt and a pair of sandals. He took his cloak off and wrapped it around her body before lifting her up. As soon as he was holding her she had wrapped her arm around his neck and snuggled into his chest. He carried her back inside the house too ask his mother what to do but she wasn't in the kitchen. 'She must have taken Thaz upstairs to bathe him' he thought as he carried the sleeping child into the living room and tried to place her on the couch but she would take her arms from around his neck.

"Mother, where are you?" He shouted from the bottom of the stairs.

"Upstairs bathing Balthazar." She replied.

"I need your help quickly." He shouted back up at his mother.

"Ok, wait a minute while I get Thaz out."She shouted back down.

The girl was starting to get heavy so he went back into the living room and sat down in the armchair with her still holding onto his neck. She had started to feel warmer since he had brought her inside. Sov couldn't help but notice how scared she looked even in her sleep; he wondered where she had come from.

"Mammy wants to know why-" His six year old sister, Caragh, started. "Where did you get the little girl from?" She asked confused.

"I found her outside, freezing cold. Go tell mammy to hurry up. I'm worried she might be ill." He told her.

Caragh ran back out of the living room and upstairs shouting, "Mammy, Sov said you have to hurry up because she might be ill."

"Who might be ill, Car." She asked confused as to who her daughter was talking about.

"The little girl he found outside." She stated obviously like her mother should already know this. Before she could reply, Caragh turned around and skipped off towards the room she shared with her five year old sister, December.

Ana was even more confused than she was before. She wrapped Thaz in a towel and took him downstairs. She walked into the living room and saw a strange sight. Her eldest son was sat in an armchair looking at a little girl that seemed to be sleeping in his arms.

"What the hell is going on here?" She asked her son with a frown.

Sovereign jumped at the sound of his mother's voice. He had not heard her come in.


	5. The Pancakes

Author's Notes: Enjoy

Chapter 7

"Mother, be quiet. You might wake her." He snapped at his mother. He didn't know why but he felt sad for this girl. She had slept outside all night in the cold. Were her parents looking for her? Did she have any parents? He didn't know anything about her but he had a strange urge to look after her.

"Who is that?" His mother asked in a whisper as she walked over to the armchair to take a peek at the little girl. "She looks familiar. Have you seen her around the estate before?"

"I don't know but I found her outside. She was shaking; I had to bring her in to get warm. I tried to place her down but she wouldn't let go from around my neck." He explained to his mother.

"Ok…she can stay. But we need to find out who she is." She told him.

"Help me lie her down on the couch. She would be a lot more comfortable and so would I." He said as he stood up and made his way to the couch. Hi mother undid the girl's arms and they both laid her down on the couch. She curled herself into a ball. Sovereign replaced his yellow cloak of the girl to keep her warm. He stared at the girl for a few moments before his mother dragged him out of the living room for questioning.

"How did she get past the wards without setting off an alarm? You're father set up many spell to prevent muggles from coming onto out property. We use magic so freely in the house if they were to see it would be disastrous." His mother had started shaking; she did this when she was nervous. "I wish your father would hurry up and get home so we can ask him." She thought out loud.

* * *

Anastasya gathered her other four children around the kitchen table to explain to them what had happened but I hadn't gone quite as planned. After explaining that Sovereign had found a little girl asleep in our garden, her two daughters had wanted to go and see her and when she had told them they had to wait til she woke up, they were not happy. Acuzio wasn't too pleased either at the thought of having a muggle in the house but she told him if he didn't like it to spend the rest of the day in his room, which he did after storming upstairs in a sulk. Sovereign had been sitting with the girl since he had found her and refused to leave her side. He wanted to make sure her health didn't deteriorate and wanted to be there when she woke up. The girl woke up just before nine o'clock.

* * *

Sophia woke up to find herself wrapped in a yellow blanket on some strange couch. The last thing she remembered from the previous day was running away from her family and hiding behind someone's garden gate. She opened her eye wide with shock and fear. What if the person whose house it was had brought her in here. She was going to have to sneak out their house without making a noise. She got off the couch and made her way towards the door of the living room, she opened the door and peeked out and could make out a kitchen down the hall. Usually kitchens have backdoors; she could sneak out that way, hopefully without making a noise. She tiptoed towards the kitchen and peeked around the corner and saw a woman with a baby on her hip. She was singing a lullaby to the child who seemed to be falling asleep in her arms. She looked at the table and saw a young girl sat drawing, she looked younger than Sophia. She wondered how she was going to escape when she heard a kind and gentle voice come from behind her.

"Hello, I see you're finally awake. I was worried about you. I thought you might be ill." The voice said. Sophia turned around and stared up at a tall boy with shoulder length hair and bright green eyes. He stared back at her before he asked her with a smile, "Would you like some breakfast before you tell us who you are and why you were asleep in our garden?"

Sophia didn't know what to say so she nodded. He held out his hand for her to hold as he guided her into the kitchen.

"Mother, our guest has woken up." Sovereign said as he walked into the kitchen holding hands with the little girl who hadn't spoken a word yet. His mother spun around with a smile on her face.

"Hello darling, would you like some breakfast, I can make you anything you want." His mother asked the girl as she placing a sleeping Thaz in his pushchair. The girl nodded again as a reply but didn't tell her what she would like for breakfast. "So what would you like, darling." She asked again sweetly.

"Can you make pancakes?" The girl asked in a quiet whisper that Sov barely heard her and he was stood right next to her.

"Pancakes it is then." His mother said happily before turning to get the ingredient and equipment out of the cupboard.

Sophia decided she like the woman because she was going to make her pancakes. The boy with bright green eyes guided her over to the kitchen table and had lifted her up onto the chair next to the little girl who was drawing. The girl looked quite strange: she had long lilac hair right down to the middle of her back and what looked like bright purple eyes but she must have been mistaken. People didn't have purple eyes or lilac hair. The girl looked at Sophia and smiled at her. She held out a hand and introduced herself as December. Sophia had shaken her hand but hadn't told December her name. She couldn't make her voice work as she stared in to December's eyes which were definitely bright purple. 'How was it possible to have bright purple eyes' Sophia thought as the smell of pancakes filled the air.

"Mammy, can I have some pancakes as well please?" December asked her.

"No darling, you've already had breakfast. These are for the girl." She stated as she piled a plate full of pancakes and placed them in front of Sophia. "Would you like some syrup, darling?" The women asked her. Sophia nodded and thanked the women when she brought it back. She drizzled the syrup onto her pancakes and dug in. The women motioned for the boy with bright green eyes to follow her outside into the hall.

When they left, Sophia turned to December and offered her the plate. "Would you like one December?" She asked. December smiled a bright beautiful smile and took one. She rolled it up and wolfed it down. Sophia started to laugh as December licked her lips and asked for another. "Sure, we can share them." Sophia said with a smile as December started to laugh as well. She liked December she was strange but she was also funny.

Sovereign followed his mother into the hall. As soon as they were out of ear shot from December and the girl, his mother started talking.

"Don't you think it's strange that the girl doesn't talk much? She's barely said one word since she's been here."His mother whispered with a raised brow.

"Well she has just woken up in a stranger's house with no recollection of how she got there. Of course she's going to be quiet. We just need to be patient and either wait for Father to get back in half an hour or wait for the girl to start talking more." He replied copying his mother's facial expression.

"Fine but I'm still worried about-" She stopped midsentence at the sound of laughter coming the kitchen. It wasn't just December laughing it was the girl as well. Ana quietly walked over to the kitchen and peer in to see December and the girls sharing the pancakes and laughing together as if they've been friends for years.


	6. The Witch Question

Sophia and December finished the pancakes and jumped down off their chairs. December was going to show Sophia the room she shared with her sister, Caragh. Sophia wondered how many children lived in the house as she had already met three and was on the way to meet the fourth. Sophia tried to remember the names of the people she had already met. The eldest was Sovereign, who was sixteen. He had shoulder length straight blonde hair, bright green eyes and was very tall. According to December, he was trying to grow his hair longer. Sophia had a feeling her parents would not approve if they ever met Sovereign. She also met the baby who was one year old. He was called Balthazar but December said the family called him Thaz for short. He was a cute baby with longish wavy blonde hair.

As soon as they had walked into the bedroom December shared with her sister a girl came skipping over. She recognised this girl from her class at school. She was very quiet and not many people talked to her. She had waist length curly black hair and bright green eyes like Sovereign. She was very tall like the rest of her family. Her name was Caragh Phelps.

"Hello Sophia, I've been waiting to see who the girl asleep was." Caragh said with a large smile on her face which made her feel welcome in the bedroom.

"How do you know her name, Car?" December asked, looking a bit jealous that her sister knew her new friends name before her.

"She's in my class at school." Caragh replied without taking her eyes off Sophia.

"My family and friends call me Phia, though." Sophia stated a bit surprised that Caragh had known it was her and not Soraya. "How did you know it was me and not Soraya?" She asked curiously.

"Nothing is truly identical. Even identical twins have a little part of them that are different." Caragh smiled at her again. "Why are here and not with your family?" She asked with a concerned voice.

"I ran away." She said quietly. She was a little ashamed of her actions and knew her parents were probably worried sick but she didn't want to see the look of terror on her brother's face ever again. She was a freak and need to be kept away from people.

"Why would you run away?" Caragh asked while guiding Sophia over to a bed to sit down on, December came over and joined them.

"Something happened." She whispered. "I did something and now my brother is scared of me." She said a little louder. She didn't want to reveal too much to them because they might become scared of her as well.

"What did you do?" December asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." She replied.

"Ok but don't you want to go home and see your Mam, Dad and sister. You don't have to see your brother if you don't want to." Caragh said.

"I suppose I miss them." She replied. She now felt guilty for running away and she wanted to go home to her own bed and sleep. "Yes. I think I want to go home now." Sophia stated whilst standing up.

"Good, we'll take you down stairs to our Mammy." Caragh said as they made their way to the door. When they got to the kitchen Sophia found a man stood next the mother. He had shoulder length, straight, black hair and bright green eyes. His skin was tanned as if he spent hours in the garden. He was wearing the strangest of clothes as well. He wore light blue trousers with a shirt the same colour that went down to his knees. On top of that he wore a long yellow coat that rested on the floor. Around his coat was a thick red belt.

"Hello young lady, I believe we haven't met. " He said as he walked towards her with his coat billowing out behind him looking like a cape. He held out his hand. "My name is Rowland Philips but people call me Rollie." He said with a wink. She shook his hand.

"My name is Sophia Martin but people call me Phia." She said with a giggle as he kissed her knuckles. She felt like a princess in the Disney movies she watches with her sister.

"Phia, may I ask how you got into my garden last night?" He looked at her with his friendly eyes which told her she was free to talk.

"We'll I ran away from home and I hid behind the bushes in your front garden but then I saw my brother come looking for me and I didn't want to see him so I ran to your gate and tried to open it and it opened so I went inside and sat down next to the gate and I must have fallen asleep. I'm sorry." She said ducking her head down waiting to be scolded for going into someone else's garden.

"So you the door just opened and you walked straight in?" He asked curiously.

"Yes?" she said nervously. Why were they asking these questions?

"Are you a…um…witch?" He asked hesitantly.

"A witch? Like with a broomstick and a wand? She asked wondering if Rollie was alright or if he was ill.

"Yes. Are you a witch?" He asked patiently.

"No. Witches don't exist, Rollie." She said. Sophia was starting to feel scared. Why was he asking her if she was a witch? He suddenly burst out laughing.

"Of course witches don't exist, Phia. So I hear you want to go home. Can you tell me where you live?" He asked changing the subject quickly.


	7. The Walk Home

**Author's Notes: I know I said I wasn't going to upload another chapter until I had 150 view but I really wanted to have this chapter up. The next couple of chapters are a lot longer than the other chapters that have been but we get introduced to Sophia's parents more and find out what they are like in their private life. **

**Anyway Enjoy and please review i've only had one. :(**

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Chapter 9

It had been almost seventeen hours since his sister had run away. The police had set up a search team and started searching the local streets and the estate down the road but they hadn't had any luck yet. Elijah had been told to stay and wait in the pub but all he did was pace up and down the length of the bar. His mother and father had gone upstairs angry at him because he hadn't told the policemen the truth. It hadn't felt like the right thing to do. His sister had run away and he was sure it was because he was going to tell their parents. He had sent Myra home last night at seven o'clock. She had the early shift at the supermarket where she worked and he didn't want her to be tired. She had wanted to stay with him but knew better then to question him in such a serious time.

After Myra left he had gone and sat outside at one of the tables with a tray of various drinks he had made himself. He had made himself a promise that night to help his little sister with whatever it was she had. He had replayed the scene of her in the trees with the dog flying away from her a thousand time in his head and there was no doubt in his mind that Sophia had some kind of gift. It was dangerous for her to be out on her own. Both for her own safety and the safety of others. She didn't know how to control her gift yet but he was going to help her control it when she came back. If she came back. 'NO' he thought. He mustn't think like that. She had to come back to him. She was his little sister and he needed her.

* * *

Sophia had told Rollie that she lived above Ridge Pub. According to Rollie it was a five minute walk from the Phelps' house so Ana suggested they go for an early lunch at the Pub.

"Acuzio!" Rollie shouted out suddenly.

"Excuse me?" Sophia asked confused not knowing what Acuzio meant.

"Oh, no dear, that is the name of my other son." He explained to her with his friendly smile.

"How many children do you have?" Sophia asked with wide eyes. That was five children that she knew of, living in one house.

"Just five." He replied chuckling. "Sovereign, Acuzio, Caragh, December and Balthazar. Why, how many children do your parents have?" He asked curiously.

"What father?" A voice shouted from upstairs.

"We're going out for an early lunch, get your cloak on." Rollie shouted back up the stairs again. "And yes you have to come." He added with a knowing smile as if he could read his sons mind.

Acuzio came into the kitchen wearing black trousers, a white linen shirt with a black waistcoat on top. He was carrying his coat in his arms. 'Acuzio looks very well dressed for a nine year old' Sophia thought as she looked at his face and saw he had black wavy hair that hung around his ears. His eyes were bright blue. He had a look of disgust on his face as he looked down his nose at Sophia. She decided it was best not to talk to Acuzio as he looked like he was in a bad mood.

"Ok everyone get your cloaks on and we'll set off." Ana announced to the room. "You can borrow one of December's cloaks. You're about the same height." Ana added as people started to move out of the kitchen.

Ana brought a gold coloured coat over to Sophia and helped her fasten it as it was different to her usual coat. She put her arms in the sleeves and realised that they flared out at the bottom, starting at the elbow and getting bigger until the fabric stopped. The length of the coat went straight past her ankles and trailed on the floor and the hood was big enough to hide her entire head. The coat was lined with faux fur which made the coat extremely warm and comfortable. Ana fastened the toggle on the coat and went to help Caragh and December with their coat whilst Rollie placed a light blue coat on Balthazar. To Sophia's surprise, Rollie place Balthazar on the floor and Thaz ran over to Sovereign with his coat flying out behind him. 'Wow, I couldn't walk until I was nearly two' she thought. Sov had just come down stairs wearing his own yellow coat similar to the one Sophia used as a blanket. He picked Thaz up and went outside to wait with Acuzio. Caragh and December came running over to Sophia and stood either side of her as they walked outside. Caragh wore a long red coat and December wore a long lilac coat to match her eyes. They stopped at the end of the drive and waited for Ana and Rollie to catch up to them. Ana was also wearing a long but hers seemed to change colour as it billowed out behind her.

On the walk to the Pub Acuzio walked in front on his own. Sovereign walked behind him holding hands with Thaz. Caragh, Sophia and December walked chatting to each other about school. Rollie and Ana walked behind the large group of children to keep an eye on them. As they walked Rollie and Ana talked to each other quietly about Sophia. Rollie knew his wards against muggles were still strong because he had checked them before they left so there was only one explanation he could think of. She must be a witch. However he asked her and she had denied it and told them that witches didn't exist.

"She must be muggle-born." Rollie whispered to his wife so none of the children could her them.

"I was thinking that, but Sovereign and Acuzio both showed magical ability at the age of four. Caragh first showed her ability ages three and December is a metamorphmagus and changed her hair and eye colour to purple just minutes after being born. By now the child should have shown magical ability if she was a witch." She whispered back to her husband whilst keeping an eye on Sophia.

"Maybe she has shown ability but doesn't know what it was. Maybe that's why she ran away, because she did something and it scared her. We should tell her that we're wizards and witches, it might help her to understand." Rollie announced to his wife quietly.

"No," Ana nearly shouted at her husband. "What if we're mistaken? She doesn't even believe we exist to begin with and it would just scare her more." She added in a tone of voice that told Rollie not to argue. Ana was always protective over children, even those that weren't hers.

Rollie thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. "What if we asked Caragh to befriend Sophia at school? She can keep an eye on her and tell us if she shows any ability." He proudly announced his plan to his wife.

"Hmm…I suppose it couldn't hurt for Car to make new a friend. She doesn't seem to have any friends at school. Yes, good idea darling we shall talk to Caragh when we get home and ask her if she is willing to participate." She said before kissing her husband as praise for his good idea.


	8. The Drunken Son

**Author's Notes: I LOVE YOU GUYS. 212 Views. Wow. You are my motivation. Please continue to nread and please continue to review CLJP. I would love it if other people could Review aswell.**

**I'll make a deal with you if I get 5 reviews after today from 5 different people I will upload 5 chapters in 1 day. :D. Is it tempting? I'll give it two weeks. So if I have 5 views by 5 people on the 22nd November 2012 you get 5 chapters. I will though continue to upload regularly.**

**I think this is a good deal.**

**Anyway Enjoy. X**

* * *

Sophia had walked home with Caragh on her left and December on the right. They had talked all the way to the pub about school and which teacher they would get. Sophia hoped that she, Soraya and Caragh were in the same class together so they could sit next to each other and be friends. Sophia had gotten to know both girls over the course of the morning and she really liked them both. Caragh was very smart and ambitious; Car had told Sophia that when she had finished schooling she wanted to work at the ministry like her father but in a different department. She wanted to be an Auror. Sophia wasn't sure what the ministry was or what an Auror was but it sounded very interesting. December, however, was very different from Caragh. December was very creative and individual, December had told Sophia that she wanted to work outside with nature when she was older. When asked what she wanted to do when she was older, Sophia hadn't known what to say. She had wanted to follow in her brothers footsteps and be a teacher but she wasn't sure anymore. She knew that Soraya wanted to take over the pub and she had tried to convince Sophia to do it with her but she wasn't sure she wanted to spend every day for the rest of her life living above a pub with her twin sister. Sophia wished that her brother wasn't so scared of her so she could become a teacher and work with him. She loved her brother more than both of her parents and her sister. Eli wasn't strict and didn't expect too much from her like their parents did. He always helped unlike her sister who always looked out for herself and didn't care what happened to others. She had left Sophia all alone in the trees when the dog was there instead of helping her sister. Phia thought her brother would always help her but this time he was too scared to see that she needed him to help her through this.

They turned the corner and the pub came into few. Sophia saw a police car outside the pub. She saw that a policeman was asleep inside of the car. She couldn't see any other policemen so assumed that they were inside the pub with her mother, father and sister or there was only one there. Sophia hoped that her brother and Myra had gone home because she didn't want to see the scared look on his face if she accidently raised her arms in his direction. The thought of her brother being there gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. She took a quick glance around the car park and couldn't see his car which got rid of the sick feeling. Acuzio, Sovereign and Balthazar had stopped on the path outside and locked at Sophia. Sophia took lead and decided to use the main door as it was probably open. To get to the main door they had to walk through the outdoor seating area which is when they saw him.

Eli was asleep at one of the tables outside with a tray of glasses on it. It was obvious he had drunk a lot last night and would probably still be hung over this morning. She hadn't realised she had stopped walking until Caragh came and stood next to her and was holding one of Sophia's hands.

"Is that your brother, Phia?" Car asked quietly. Sophia turned around to look at Caragh and nodded. Caragh knew that Sophia didn't want to see her brother so she pulled Sophia into a hug and whispered into her ear. "We don't have to wake him. We can just go inside and leave him out here."

"No. My parents or the other policeman will come and tell him I'm back. I might as well wake him now." Sophia whispered back. She pulled herself out of the hug and looked at the other Phelps'. They all were looking at her confused except for December who knew everything Caragh knew.

Sophia walked over to her brother who let out a soft snore. She pulled on his coat and whispered his name into his ear. He murmured something before his eyes flashed open and he stared straight into Sophia's eyes with a look of guilt.

Elijah had been dreaming of yesterday. Everything that had happened had happened again in his dream. He was forced to relive what was definitely the worse day of his life. The dream had ended with him sat outside with his head on the table. He hadn't realise he was asleep until he felt something pulling at his coat and a whisper in his ear. He had tried to ask if Sophia was back yet when he realised that the voice had sounded like Sophia. He had opened his eyes to find himself looking straight down into her dark brown eyes. He felt so guilty. If he hadn't of jumped when she raised her arms, she wouldn't have run away. It was his entire fault.

"Sophia?" He asked the girl in front of him. He was sure it was her because the girl in front of him had a freckle above her eyebrow in the exact same place as Phia did but he had to make sure it wasn't Soraya.

"Yes Eli?" She asked him back. It was definitely her. He jumped up from the bench to hug her but halfway through the action he had fallen over from the dizziness. He had forgotten he had drunk a lot last night. He was lying on the floor trying to stop his vision from spinning when two pairs of hands were either side of him. He had no idea who they were but decided not to argue and to let them literally carry him into the pub.

Sophia watched in shock as Eli jumped up from the bench and fell over. She was sure that he had been trying to get away from her but was too hung over to get anywhere. She just stood there staring at her brother when Rollie and Sovereign came over to them and took an arm each and actually carried him into the pub. The rest of the Phelps had followed but she had stayed behind nervously. How were her parents going to react when she walked through the door? Would they shout at her? Would the police shout at her?

Anastasya stopped at the door and turned to look over at Sophia who hadn't moved since her brother had fallen over drunk. The little girl looked scared and nervous. Ana went over to Sophia and bent down so she could look directly into the girl's eyes.

"They're not going to be mad at you, Phia." Ana told Sophia. "They'll just be glad to get you back."

"Really?" Phia asked nervously. "They can get very angry sometimes when we do something wrong."

This made Ana frown. Phia and her sister, Soraya, were only six years old. They wouldn't know when they did something wrong. Caragh and December often did things wrong but she and Rollie never got angry. They just explained to their children why the thing that did was wrong and hoped that they would learn from their mistakes. They usually would.

"Let's just go inside, you'll be fine." Ana replied finally.


	9. The Reunion

**Author's Notes: Hey guys. So as I promised I am uploading often. I only have 1 review since I proposed the deal. :( Please review it makes me feel happy even bad reviews are welcome because they help me to improve my standard of working. **

**You may have noticed that I am not very good at speeling or using grammer. I welcome all readers to help me by reviewing and telling me my faults.**

**Yes, you're right. This is just another way to get reviews. I hope it works. **

**Please! x**

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Chapter 11 – The Reunion

After her talk with Ana, Sophia decided that she should just get the reunion over with. She knew her parents would be pleased at first, but after everyone left they would get angry and would tell her off. She wasn't looking forward to it at all. She was usually brave when it came to confrontations but if they were with her parents she became nervous and started to panic. Sophia realised she had been stood on the same spot for a while and Ana was staring at her from the doorway which she had open to let Sophia past. Sophia walked over to Ana and gave her a quick thank you hug. Sophia had aimed to hug Ana around the waist but could only reach up to the middle of her thighs. The whole Phelps family were tall. Sophia took Ana's hand and walked into the pub.

Sophia looked around and saw that there was a long table big enough for twelve people in front of the bar where usually there were individual tables of four. Acuzio was sat at the table. He was staring straight ahead looking miserable. Balthazar was sat in a highchair and was looking at a menu with interest. It looked as if he was actually reading it but he couldn't be he was only two. Caragh and December were in the corner talking to Soraya. This made Sophia jealous because Caragh and December were her friends first and she didn't want to share with her sister. Although, Soraya didn't look too happy talking to Sophia's new friends, this made her relax a bit. Sovereign was talking to her parents who had their back towards Sophia and the table. They seemed to be talking about Elijah because Sov was pointing at Eli and looked like he was explaining why he had brought him in. Sov looked over her parents shoulder's and looked straight past Sophia towards the table. Sophia turned around in time to see Rollie putting a stick inside his coat pocket. She looked at him questioningly. He locked eyes with her and his face suddenly turned pale like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing.

* * *

Rollie had just finished using the Locomotor spell to move the tables and chairs into a better position for all twelve of the people in the pub to sit around. He looked towards his Sovereign who was keeping Phia's parents busy whilst he did the spell. He flashed his son a smile and put his wand back into his cloak pocket. He looked over toward his wife and Phia who had just walked the door a minute ago. He locked eye with Phia and realised she had been watching him. He felt the colour drain out of his skin. How much had she seen? He looked up at his wife who was looking at Sovereign and thanked God she hadn't noticed the eye contact that Phia and he were making. He walked over to Sov and placed a hand on his shoulder and whispered into his ears.

"Son, Phia saw me."

Sovereign turned pale in realisation of what his father had just whispered into his ear. He turned to look at Phia and saw that she was already looking at him. He tried to smile his usual smile but it didn't feel natural. He was going to have to talk with Phia to find out how much she had seen, it was what his father had hinted at when he whispered in his ear.

"It's rude to whisper." Phia's mother said. Sovereign looked at the women shocked. He couldn't quite figure out how to reply to this.

"W-wh-what?" Sov stumbled over his words.

"I think you mean excuse me." The women replied. "Don't you have any manners?" She asked him.

Sovereign looked at his father confused. He hadn't met many muggles and wasn't sure if this is how they reacted. His father, however, also had a look of confusion on his face.

"Don't talk to my son like that. He shows everyone respect."His father said defending Sov. "He helped me bring your drunken son into the pub. I think you should be thanking us Mr Martin." Rollie added. The women in front of them turned an ugly shade of red in embarrassment. It was her husband talked next.

"Thank you Mr… what did you say your name was again?" The man asked looking not looking thankful at all.

"I didn't tell you what my name was Mr Martin." Rollie replied adding emphasis on the other man's name. "It's Rowland Phelps." Rollie said whilst holding out his hand for Mr Martin to shake. "But you can call me Rollie. Everyone does." He added as Mr Martin shook his hand.

"I don't think I will. Your parents gave you the name Rowland, not Rollie. People don't call me Alex; they call me Alexander because my parents gave me that name." Alexander replied smugly. Sovereign looked at his father knowing that this wasn't going to end well. His father was smiling but Sov knew that behind that smile his father was probably getting angry. Nobody mentioned Rollie's parents, atleast not in front of him.

"I couldn't care less about my parents." Rollie said calmly. But on the inside he was fuming. He hated his parents ever since he was old enough to understand the discrimination against muggles and muggle-borns. He had always loved muggles but he had to hide this from his parents who both very traditional. They believed that magic should be kept between magic families. It was very Slytherin of them. He hated the fact that everyone knew who his parents were. When he told his parents that one of his best friends was muggle-born they had threatened to disown him unless he broke off the friendship. Of course he told them he had but in reality he hadn't. When he had chosen to take muggle studies as an option in 3rd year his parents were furious but said that it would set his mind right with learning about how the muggles hate wizards. He still remembered the looks on their faces when their only son introduced them to the same muggle-born he was best friends with but introduced her as his girlfriend of two years.

_He grabbed Ana's wrist and pulled her over to the side away from the other students who were saying bye to their families and getting ready to board the Hogwarts Express. It was only 10.40 but most students got on the train early to grab a compartment. Just before they reached the far end of the station where his parents were stood, he stopped and kissed his girlfriend. After they broke apart he looked lovingly into her beautiful pale blue eyes._

_"What was that for?" She asked whilst batting her eyelashes. She knew that he loved the way she did that._

_"It's our last year at Hogwarts this year and we're both Head boy and girl. After we graduate I plan on marrying you because I love you more than I believed was possible. Therefore I think it is time I introduce you to my parents as my girlfriend." He continued looking deep into her eyes. They had never talked about the future but he knew that she loved him so he wasn't nervous about her rejecting his kind of proposal._

_"You want to marry me?" She asked with tears in her eyes._

_"Yes, of course I do. You're not just my girlfriend but you're also my best friend. Just don't let Caesar know that, he'll have a fit." He said. She laughed at the last sentence. "I also got you a ring. It's a family heirloom that my grandmother gave me." He added as he produced a beautiful gold ring with a pale blue diamond in the middle. "It originally had a black stone but I thought you'd prefer the blue diamond to match your eyes so I transfigured it." He said as he also produced a gold necklace chain. He slid the chain through though ring and tied it fastened it around her Ana's neck where it dangled elegantly._

_"I love you so much Rollie." She sobbed whilst she tucked the ring under her top to hide it from view. They didn't want everyone to know that they were engaged yet._

_"Now for you to meet your soon to be in-laws." He said with a chuckle as he took on of Ana's delicate hands into his own. She looked down at their hands and then back up to his face._

_"What if they disown you like they threatened to do in 1st year when you told them about our friendship?" She asked worryingly._

_"Don't worry, darling. If they disown me, I'll go live at Caesar's. I just asked his parents five minutes ago and they said congratulation and that I am more than welcome to come and live at their house for as long as I want and that you can come and live there too if you want." Rollie said soothingly._

_"Ok, let's get this over with." She replied shyly. He smiled at her and pulled her over toward his parents. They turned to look at him when they noticed him coming back over to collect his trunk._

_"You're finally back. Can we go now or do you want us to guard something else." His mother said sarcastically. She then looked at Ana and down toward their entwined hands. "Who is she?" She asked rudely._

_"This is my girlfriend, Anastasya Anderson."He announced proudly. "Oh no wait, let me start again. This is my fiancée, Anastasya Anderson."_

_"Your…Your fiancée." His mother stammered. "We didn't even know you had a girlfriend."_

_"Well I did have one, know I have a fiancée. We've been dating for two years but we've been best friends for seven years now." He stated._

_"You're only friend is Caesar Pease and his girlfriend Helena Dinton. Know you're telling me that you've been friends with this girl for your entire school life. How come we didn't know?" His mother asked him._

_"You did know. You told me that if I didn't stop the friendship you'd disown me so I lied and told you that the friendship had stopped but in reality she's been my best friend the whole time and my girlfriend for the last two years." He replied._

_"Wait… She's that Mudblood friend of yours from 1st year?" She said disgustingly as if she had a bad taste in her mouth. Before he could help himself he brought his hand up and slapped his mother across the face. She had a red hand mark across her face. _

_"Don't you dare call her Mudblood?" He shouted at his mother._

_His father suddenly put himself in the way of his son and wife. _

_"I think you better leave." He said quietly so only the four of them could hear. "And don't think about coming home for Christmas or summer." He added as he turned and walked away with his wife._

_"I wouldn't even dream of coming home this summer. I've already made arrangement to move in with Caesar. I never have to see you or that woman ever again." He shouted back at his father. People were looking at them know but he didn't care he was finally free._

_"I'm free, darling." He whispered to Ana as she pulled him into a hug. "I'm finally, free."_

_"Let's go get compartment, honey." She said with a smile._

_That had been one of the best days of his life._

"I think you should show some respect towards your elders Mr Phelps." Alexander told him.

"Why should I they disowned me. I feel nothing towards them, especially not respect." He said in return. Alexander realised that this was a touchy subject so decided to drop it.

"Well thank you Mr Phelps and your son for bringing my son in from outside, but I'm afraid were not open for business today. We've had a family problem." He said hinting that it was time for his family to leave.

"What kind of family problem, Mr Martin." Rollie asked knowing that the family problem was that his six year old daughter had run away.

"I don't think that is any of your business." Alexander said shocked that someone would ask such a question. "And how did you know my name, you've said it twice know."

"Actually I've said it thrice, Mr Martin." Rollie said correcting him. "And I might be able to help you with your family problem." He added with emphasis on the words 'family problem'.

"What can you do to help if you don't know what the problem is?" He asked Rowland.

"I do know your problem." Rollie stated. "Your problem is that your six year daughter Sophia Martin ran away from home." He added.

"How…how did you know?" Mrs Martin asked curiously.

"Well somehow she made it to my garden where she spent the night. My son here found her this morning and brought her into the house to keep her warm. My wife fed her some pancakes for breakfast at her request. She then spent some time talking with my two daughters over there where they were able to convince her to go back home. So after she told me where she lived we brought her back here, where your drunken son woke and fell over. He may have a concussion, he hit his head. Now if you look behind you, your daughter is stood next to my wife." He ended with his trademark smile.

Alexander and Florance turned around simultaneously and saw their daughter Sophia stood holding hands with a very tall woman wearing a multicoloured long coat. Sophia was also wearing a long gold coat. Sophia was looking straight past them. Florance turned around and saw her son sat up looking straight back at Sophia. He had a look of guilty on his face. He suddenly stood up and wobbled a bit, obviously hung over, and walked over to Sophia. Sophia looked scared and as if she didn't want to be there. Elijah then kneeled down in front of Sophia and whispered something to her. He was kneeled down whispering to her for two minutes before Sophia finally wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. She was crying. Whatever Elijah had said to Sophia obviously made her feel better. This made Florance curious as to what he had said.


	10. The Promise

**Author's Note: :( I guess you didn't agree to the terms of my deal. Oh well Thank you for reading any way I now have 301 reviews. Woohoo. Each one of my readers get a hypothetical cookie. Yay. I know this Chapter is longer than usual but it's better than shorter than usually. If you think this oe is long wait until I upload the next chapter which I've already written.**

**Please Review and Carry on reading**

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**Chapter 12**

Elijah had decided that know would be the best time to talk to Sophia before their parents got to her and told her off. She would most definitely be grounded and wouldn't be allowed out of her room except for school and meal times. He needed to tell her his plan. He got up and walked over to her. He could tell that she was scared of him by the way she moved closer to the tall woman in the multicoloured coat. He knelt down on the floor in front of her and motioned for her to come forward. The woman realised that Eli wanted to talk to Sophia and stepped aside slightly. He began to whisper quietly so Phia could hear.

"Phia, I want to tell you something and ask you something but you've got to promise me that you will listen to me before you answer." Sophia nodded back at him. "Ok, good. We both know I saw you do that 'thing' in the park yesterday with the dog." She started shaking. "I want you to know that I was terrified of you, but know I want to help you. It's a gift that you need to control and I want to help you. I don't know how you're going to be able to control it but I will help you any way I can." She stopped shaking and started leaning closer to him suddenly interested in what she had to say. "I didn't tell our parents about the incident or the police. We'll wait to start at school. You can come to my classroom every Monday and Friday lunchtime and I'll help you, but you must practice on your own. However that should be easy because as soon as these people leave they're going to shout at you and ground you. But I promise I will protect you no matter what happens. Will you let me help you?" He had finished talking and was waiting to hear her response.

She suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. She then brought her lips up to his ear and whispered into them. "Please help me."

"Always." He sighed with relief. "Who are your friends?" He asked her in a whisper still.

"The Phelps, Caragh is in my class at school." She answered looking over at Caragh and seeing her smiling back at Sophia.

Elijah stood up and turned to face his parents who were looking at him and Sophia curiously. His hangover seemed to have dissappeared. He then looked at the Phelps family. They had three sons and two daughters. They had also apparently invited themselves over for dinner by the look of the long table they had set up at some point. "Well, the Phelps family here have seemed to have invited themselves for dinner, so I'll call the chefs and some waitresses and have them come over and prepare something for us all. I'll also call Myra and have her come over after her shift is over at 1pm. Dinner will probably be ready at 1.30pm so it will give us enough time to talk and introduce ourselves. I would like to find out more about how you helped my sister. Come sit down Mr and Mrs Phelps." He motioned for them to sit down at the table they made.

Mr Phelps sat down at the head of the table and Mrs Phelps sat in the seat to his right with their middle son sat next to her. Elijah sat to the left of Mr Phelps with Sophia sat next to him. He held her hand under the table and squeezed it reassuringly. Next to Sophia were the Phelps' two daughters. The three girls were sat chatting together. Next to the middle son was the Phelps' eldest son sat next to their youngest son who was in a highchair. Soraya sat next to son in the highchair. His mother reluctantly next to the girl with the lilac hair and his father sat next to his wife.

"Well now that were all sat down, why don't we start by asking who you are because at the moment you are no more than a stranger who brought my sister back." Eli said to Mr Phelps sat at the head of the table.

"I like you, you know how to get straight to the point and you seem to be very friendly." Rollie said complimenting the young man sat next to him. "I think it would be best if we all introduced ourselves as nobody knows a person better then themselves." He said with a smile. "My name is Rowland Phelps; I mentioned this when you were passed out." He said teasingly. "My son and I helped carry you in after you fell over outside. How is your head anyway?"

"I'm fine thank you, Rowland, sorry about passing out in front of you." He replied embarrassingly.

"Well anyway, how about we go around the table and introduced ourselves." He suggested. "Darling, why don't you go next?" He asked his wife.

"My name is Anastasya Phelps, but you can call me Ana." She said to the table before remembering that Alexander Martin didn't like people using nicknames. She looked at Alexander and he didn't look happy but she couldn't tell if this was because of what she said or because of the situation itself. She looked down at Acuzio and motioned for him to go next.

"I'm Acuzio; you may not call me anything else but Acuzio. However, I would prefer it if you didn't talk to me at all because after today it is highly unlikely you will see me again. If I do see you again, I will ignore you." Acuzio said monotonously then looked to his brother for him to go next.

Ana looked down at her son sat next to her and frowned at him. She knew the Martin's wouldn't approve of his manner of speaking. Ana didn't bother Acuzio about it anymore. She had come to terms with the fact that Acuzio was just like his paternal grandparents and would most likely be a Slytherin when he went to Hogwarts in two years time. Ana looked over towards the Martin's and flashed them her signature smile.

"Well that's our Cuz." She said forcing a laugh to diffuse the tension. She heard Acuzio growl from next to her.

"Did your son just growl like a dog?" Mr Martin asked with an eyebrow raised confused about the way this women allowed her children to behave.

"Yes, he did." She replied. "Sorry darling," Ana said looking at Acuzio. "It's Acuzio not Cuz. He's so very Slytherin, what do you expect." She now directed her attention back to the rest of the table. Acuzio relaxed at this statement. He liked it when his parents referred to the Slytherin in him.

"What's a Slytherin?" Mr Martin asked with a frown. Acuzio sneered at the question and Sovereign elbowed him in his ribs with a scowl. Acuzio, who hadn't been expecting the elbow to the ribs, yelped and jumped out of his seat. Sov burst out laughing at this and soon all the Phelps and Sophia were laughing and giggling at Acuzio who stood glaring at everyone sat at the table. He finally sat down again and went back to staring ahead with a scowl on his face.

"Are you alright, Acuzio?" Sophia asked politely. It had been the first time she had spoken out loud since she had entered the pub. Also, it was the first time she had actually talked to Acuzio.

"Don't talk to me you filthy Mudblood." He nearly shouted back at her, obviously still angry from being laughed at. Sophia raised an eyebrow in confusion. Acuzio looked back at her wondering why she was looking at her funny. He looked to his left and saw Sovereign staring at him with his mouth open in shock. His entire family seemed to be looking at him disapprovingly. 'What had he said' he thought as he went back over the short conversation he had just had with Sophia. His suddenly went pale with realisation of what he had said. He looked up towards his mother who had tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry mother, I didn't mean it." His voice shook. "I'm really sorry, please don't cry." He pleaded with his mother.

* * *

Sophia wasn't sure what had happened. All he had done was, call her a 'Mudblood'. She didn't know what the word meant but it didn't sound like a very nice thing to call someone. She looked around the table at the Phelps'. They were all staring at Acuzio with their mouths open in shock. Even Balthazar seemed to know that what Acuzio had done was wrong. Ana looked like she was about to cry.

"I thought we taught you better, Acuzio." Anna said in a quiet voice. She sounded disappointed. "I've never heard you say…THAT…before, and I never want to hear you say it again. If I do hear you say it again, you will be in trouble. Understand."

Acuzio nodded at his mother and bowed his head down guiltily.

* * *

"Erm… Hi my name is Sovereign Phelps. I'll answer your question. Slytherin is the name of one of the houses of my school. I'm a Hufflepuff, but there is also Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. I'm sixteen and I'll be in my sixth year when I go back in September. Any other questions I can answer?" He asked them politely. He wasn't in their good books because he apparently had bad manners.

"Yes, just a few more. Where do you go to school?" Mrs Martin asked him. Sovereign thought for a moment on how to answer. He couldn't just come out and say he went to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They would think he was crazy. Mrs Martin also looked like the kind of mother who wanted her children to be the best at school. He decided to answer truthfully.

"It's in Scotland." He replied with a cheeky grin knowing that she had actually meant the name of the school. 'Well she should have been clearer' he thought to himself.

"Scotland? So is it a boarding school?" She asked him rather stupidly he thought.

"Obviously." He replied with a look of amazement that she had to ask. "Why would I go back and forth every day to a school in Scotland when I live in London?" He asked rhetorically. Acuzio sniggered at this but then he realised he should try and behave. Mrs Martin scowled at him but knew better than to question the manners of the Phelps children.

"What is a Mudblood?" She asked Sovereign curiously. Sov looked at his parent and his father raised his hand and held his thumb and finger about an inch apart and nodded at his son. Sovereign knew this meant that he was allowed to tell her but to keep it short.

"A Mudblood is a term used to mean dirty blood." He said hoping she wouldn't ask any more questions on the topic.

"My sister doesn't have dirty blood." Eli said defensively for his Sophia.

"No, I'm not saying she does-" He started to explain but was interrupted by Mrs Martin.

"But he is. He's the one that called her it." She pointed out.

"Yes well he snapped. Our family doesn't use the term but other people in our…erm…our…" He didn't know how to finish the sentence.

"Spit it out." Mrs Martin spat at him.

"Our community, other people from our community call people like your daughter it. They are mainly rich snobs who believe that… power… should be kept between our community." He spat back at her. Sovereign had taken Muggle Studies at school in third year and knew that the English muggle ministry was similar to the English wizarding ministry. They both had different departments and each one had different sorts of powers. He hoped they would think he was talking about their ministry.

"What do you mean 'your community'? You only live down the road." Mrs Martin asked.

"Why don't we drop the questions and get back to the introductions?" Rowland suggested.

"Fine," Mrs Martin huffed. "Alexander, you're next." She added looking at her husband.

"What bout me?" A little voice came from next to Sovereign. Mrs Martin stared at the child. He only looked about two years old and he could form sentences like a five year old. Nobody said anything else but Mrs Martin saw all the Phelps smiling at the child except for Acuzio who seemed to be sniggering again. "Daddy, can I talk now?" He asked his father sweetly.

"Of course, darling. It's your turn." Rowland replied proudly.

"My name is Bathsar Felps. I am nearly three year old. Can I ave pancakes for dinner, Miss Lady?" He asked Mrs Martin.

"Pancakes aren't very health for dinner and I didn't quite catch your name." Mrs Martin returned with a frown at beign called 'Miss Lady'.

"He said Balthazar Phelps, Mam. But they call him Thaz for short." Sophia spoke for the second time since arriving at the pub. She knew that everything about what she had said would get her in trouble but it was worth it to see them scowl at her and to see Caragh and December nearly burst out laughing. Firstly, she had answered a question for someone else which her parents hated. They said that people were given a voice so they could answer for themselves. Secondly, she had called her mother 'Mam'. Her mother hated being called Mam. They had to either call her mother or mammy. Thirdly, she had told them to call Balthazar, Thaz, for short.

"Thank you Sophia for clearing that up for us." Her mother said not sounding very thankful at all.

"Soraya Martin." Her sister said suddenly before looking at her father.

"Alexander Martin." Her father said to no one in particular and looked at his wife.

"I'm Florance Martin." She said plainly before looking at December in disgust at the sight of her hair.

"Hello, my name is December Phelps and I am five years old. I don't have a nickname that you could call me instead. I don't like the sound of Dec so people just call me December." She smiled at the people sat around the table before looking up into the eyes of Florance.

"Why are your eyes purple?" Florance asked confused.

"There lilac and I like them that way." December replied simply.

"So they're natural." Florance asked even more confused than before. She had never seen or heard of anyone with lilac eyes.

"No I was born with blue eyes but I found them boring so I changed them lilac." She said happily.

"With contacts." Sovereign shouted out at Florance.

"Oh, you allow your five year old daughter to wear contacts." Florance asked Anastasya. "And dye her hair the same colour by the looks of it." She added.

"Yes they do." Sovereign answered for his mother. She wouldn't know what contacts were or what it meant to dye your hair.

"I think your mother can answer for herself, Sovereign. And where did you get the names for children from?" Florance asked forcibly.

"Well they all mean something special." Ana replied thoughtfully. "But I don't have time to go into that." She added not wanting to explain why she named her children what she did.

"My name is Caragh and I am six years old. I am also in Sophia's class at school." Caragh announced proudly. "Oh and Soraya's class as well, obviously." She added as an afterthought.

"Obviously." Mr Martin muttered under her breath. She didn't like the Phelps family and couldn't wait until they left after lunch.

"My name is Sophia Mar-" Sophia started with a cheeky smile.

"Everyone knows who you are, it's Elijah's turn." Florance stated meanly.

"But I want a go." Sophia back chatted.

"You can have a go Phia." Eli said from next to her. She turned and smiled at him. She liked it when he called her Phia in front of their parents it drove them crazy.

"Thank you Eli." Sophia said in return. "As I was saying before I was interrupted, is that my name is Sophia Martin, I am six years old. I'd prefer it if you called me Phia though." She said looking up at Eli who winked down at his sister.

"My name is Elijah but I prefer Eli. I am 22 year old and will be teaching at St Andrews Primary School in September. Now that we've introduced ourselves and the staff are on their way, we can talk more like friends than strangers." Eli looked at Rollie and started a conversation with him about university.

Florance and Alexander where talking to Sovereign more about his school. Sophia couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable this made him look. 'Why doesn't he like talking about his school' she wondered. She then realised that December had been talking to her while she had been thinking.

"Sorry, what were you saying? I was thinking about something." Sophia asked her new friend.

"I was saying how I need a nickname. Everyone here has on. Well except for your mother and father. Any ideas?" December whined.

"I still like Cember." Caragh said. Sophia thought about this. She wasn't sure about it.

"What about Ber? It's simple and it's the noise people tend to make in December because it's cold." Sophia suggested.

"Yes, I like that. Ber. Hmmm." December screwed her face up as if she was concentrating really hard. "Yes that will be my new nickname. Hey Mam." December called over to her Ana. Ana looked over towards the three girls and smiled. They seemed to be getting along fine.

"Yes sweetie?" She asked.

"Phia has come up with a nickname for me." December shouted at her Mam. The noise at the table had started to grow loud. When they heard December shouting over to her Mother, Florance and Alexander stopped their conversation with Sovereign and looked over at Sophia. "You tell them Phia."

"Ok." Sophia replied to her friend. This was an opportunity to annoy her parents even further. "Well, Caragh suggested Cember, but it just seemed a bit long for a nickname. So I suggested Ber."

"That's kind of Ironic." Eli said out loud. "Because people say 'ber' when it's cold and it's cold in December."

"That's what I said." Phia said smiling up at her brother.

"Well great mind think alike." Eli said just before there was a knock at the pub's main door. Eli got up to go answer it. Sophia smiled at his last comment. She really did love her brother more than anyone else in her family. She wasn't very happy with her sister because she had run off without helping her when the big dog was closing in on her. She enjoyed annoying her parents because she didn't really like them either. She knew it was wrong but Sophia had soon realised that her parents were rather fond of punishment. That was mainly the reason she was annoying her parents now because she already knew she was going to be punished for running away so she might as well annoy them even further.


	11. The Dinner

**Author's Notes: Hey readers. Here is the long chapter I promised in the last chapter. :D Please read and If you want you can review but I know you wont so i'll try not to get my hopes up. **

**Enjoy!**

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The rest of the day had passed quickly after the introductions. Eli had just sat back down after letting the staff in through the main door of the pub when there was another knock. Eli had sighed showing his annoyance at having to get to again.

"Let me get the door, Eli." Sovereign had offered standing up and making his way towards the door.

"Thanks, Sov," he shouted over towards the door. 'What a nice boy' he thought to himself.

* * *

Sovereign had noticed the annoyance in Eli's face when there was a knock at the door just seconds after he sat down. Sovereign was much closer than Eli so he stood up and offered to get the door for him. He heard Eli shout thanks as he slid the bolt across and opened the door. On the other side of the door was a woman who looked around 22 years old. This was probably Myra, Eli's girlfriend. The woman hadn't said anything yet and had just been staring at him.

"You must be Myra," he told the woman who just nodded back. "Come in then Myra." He added politely whilst smiling. He knew the woman would be confused at having a complete stranger open the door and know her name. It made him fell Sherlock Holmes. In the muggle section of the Hogwarts library there were many copies of the Sherlock Holmes by Muggle author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Holmes is a fiction detective and would often know things about someone before they told him themselves. The woman stepped around him and entered the pub. She walked over to the table looked around at the unfamiliar faces.

* * *

"Hey babe," Eli called out to her as Sov took a seat again and smiled at the woman. "Come sit next to me, I'm sure my parents and the girls don't mind moving up a seat." He stated whilst looking along his side of the talk. Everyone got up and moved across a seat and Myra took the one Sophia had just been sat in.

"Sophia, you're home!" Myra exclaimed. "When did you get back?" She asked the six year old as if the girl had just popped out to the corner shop for some milk.

"About 11 o'clock this morning. My new friends, the Phelps, brought me back," she answered whilst smiling at the man sat at the head of the table next to Eli. Sophia turned around and continued with the conversation she was having with the two girls next to her. Myra was confused, 'who are the Phelps' she thought to herself. Her question was answered by her fiancé sat next to her.

"I'll introduce you to our guests," Eli told Myra. He pointed at each of the new faces individually and announced their name. "This is Rowland, who brought Phia back home. Then this is Anastasya, who made Phia some pancakes this morning. Twice in a row, what a treat! This is Acuzio, he hasn't really done anything. This is Sovereign, who found Phia asleep outside in this garden this morning and brought her inside his house. This is Balthazar and he's two years old. This is December, the one with the lilac hair and eyes. And this is Caragh who is in Phia and Raya's class at school." Eli had finally concluded his introduction speech about the individual person. "And this is my fiancée, Myra," he added afterwards directing this sentence towards the Phelps.

"Hello Myra, please, call me Rollie. Also you might as well know everyone else's shorten names. He stated out loud. "There is me, Rollie, obviously. Then there's my wife Ana. My eldest son is Sov short for Sovereign. My youngest son is Thaz short for Balthazar. My eldest daughter is Car short for Caragh. My youngest daughter has just been given her shorten name by Phia. Her name is Ber which is short for December."

* * *

"What about Acuzio?" Acuzio heard the Myra woman quietly ask Eli.

"I don't like to shorten my name." Acuzio answered with an evil glare. He didn't like people talking about him especially right in front of him.

* * *

"Oh, Ok." Myra said awkwardly. For some reason she was intimidated by a nine year old boy. She sat in silence until their meals came out, stuck in her thoughts.

Myra wasn't sure what had happened in the past 19 hours. When she had left Eli had been on his way over to the bar to make use of the free alcohol. She was sure he would have drunken himself into a terrible state. She wondered why he wasn't asleep somewhere or atleast complaining of a very bad headache. She knew that Eli couldn't hold his drink very well. Myra was also confused as to why her soon-to-be parents-in-law hadn't grounded Phia and locked her in her room yet. Phi was obviously going to be punished for running away. They were probably waiting until there guest left. She looked over towards Alexander and Florance. They both looked angry and confused. Florance kept looking over to Eli and glaring at him. Alexander, however, was staring at Acuzio who appeared to be staring straight at her. This made Myra uncomfortable as he had just reprimanded her for asking a simple question. Alexander obviously disliked the young boy. She wondered what she had missed from when she left last night to when she arrived this afternoon. She was then pulled away from her thoughts as the waitresses brought out the plates.

Sophia noticed how uncomfortable Myra was being. She looked at her as the waitresses laid down plates of Spaghetti Bolognese. Myra kept looking around the table nervously biting on her lower lip as if she didn't trust any of the new faces she saw. This thought made Phia frown. With the exception of Acuzio she really liked the entire Phelps family and hoped that she could meet them all again. She would see Car and Ber in the lower school playground and in class. She would see Ana and Thaz when they came to pick them up. Acuzio was going in year five and she Phia had never met him before today so she assumed that she wouldn't see him around school either when they went back. She would only see Sov at Christmas or summer when he came home from school. She looked up at Sovereign who was wrapping some spaghetti around a fork, showing Thaz how to eat it. He placed the fork into his mouth and pulled the spaghetti off with his teeth. There was a long piece of Spaghetti dangling out of his mouth which he sucked up. Phia, Car and Ber all burst out laughing at the same moment.

Eli hadn't heard Phia laugh so hard in ages. He turned around to see what was so funny and saw that everyone was looking at the three girls confusingly. Caragh was pointing at Sovereign and he looked at his sister with his eyebrows raised questionably. Phia had calmed down from laughing and was now looking at Caragh and December who were still laughing harder than ever. Phia turned around as if she felt his gaze on her. She started to laugh again at the look on his face.

"Please enlighten us on what you girls find so funny." Rollie chuckled from behind him.

"Sov…eating…Spaghetti." Car replied in between giggles. "He sucked it up." She burst out laughing again. This time Sov joined in.

"I hadn't realised the way I eat was humorous to you girls." Sov laughed. Nearly everyone at the table was laughing now. The only people not laughing were his parents, his fiancée, Raya and Acuzio who seemed to be so caught in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed his dinner had arrived. He looked at Myra and saw that she was staring strangely at Acuzio who was still staring straight ahead.

"Why are you looking at Acuzio?" He whispered to Myra who jumped at the sound of his voice so close to her ear.

"I…erm…I…Why is he staring at me like that?" She whispered back. "He hasn't blinked for like three whole minutes." She added.

"Well he doesn't really speak. You should have heard his little speech before you came. It's obvious he doesn't want to be here." He whispered with a little chuckle at Acuzio's thoughts on the Martin's.

"What did he say?" She asked curiously.

"Not here. Come with me to get the drinks and I'll tell you." He said before making getting everyone's attention. "Ok. What would everyone like to drink?"

"Can I have a coke please Eli?" Phia asked him sweetly.

"Of course you can, Phia." He said back. He looked around at the rest of the table and noticed how his mother had a frown plastered on her face. She looked really ugly when she frowned.

"Can I have one as well Eli?" Caragh asked fluttering her eyebrows. How could he resist when she looked so adorable.

"You can all have whatever you want." He stated.

"Ok, I'll have a beer please." Caragh smiled back at him.

"Oh, very clever twisting my words like that."He said laughing. She was a very smart girl. "So that's two cokes. What about the rest of you kids?

"Same as Phia and Car, please." December stated with a confused look on her face.

"Coke please, Elijah." Raya said with an annoyed look as she glared across the table at Phia, Car and Ber.

"Thaz and I will have some apple juice if you have any." Sov answered looking at Eli.

"I believe we do have apple juice." Eli replied. "What about you Acuzio?" He said looking down at the boy who was still staring straight ahead, apparently trapped in his thoughts. "Acuzio? Aaacooziiooo?" He asked dragging his name out trying to grab his attention.

"What." He mumbled finally looking up at Eli.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Water." He mumbled again obviously not wanting to say anything more than one worded sentences to him.

"Ok. So for the kids I have four cokes, two apple juices and one water." Eli said thoughtfully. "Now what would the adults like top drink." He looked over towards his parents.

"I'll have water." His mother ordered.

"And I'll have the same." His father added.

"I would like lemonade please, Eli." Ana smiled back at him.

"I would like to try a coke please Eli." Rollie curiously announced.

"You've never had a coke before?" Eli asked raising his eyebrow.

"No, I don't believe I have." He replied still smiling.

"Ok then, Myra why don't you come and help me?" He hinted at his fiancée who stood up and followed him over to the bar. When they got to the bar they started to get glasses out whilst Eli told Myra what she missed.

"We were doing the introductions and both his mother and father had announced their names and their nicknames and it was Acuzio's turn and he said, and I quote, 'I am Acuzio. You may not call me anything but Acuzio. I would prefer it if you didn't talk to me at all because after today you will never see me again and if you do I'll ignore you.' You should have seen how he reacted when his mother called him Cuz. He actually growled at her like a dog."

"Whoa. That kid has some issues." Myra announced.

"Yes but he's a good kid. Well kind of. He knows when he does something wrong because he called Phia a Mudblood. Which is someone with dirty blood, I don't really know what he meant by it but his mother nearly burst into tears. He kept on apologizing and begging his mother not to cry." Elijah commented. For some reason he had the urge to defend this child.

"What did his mother do?" Myra asked. She seemed to be getting more curious by the minute. "Did she ground him or shout at him?" She added.

"No actually, she didn't." Eli answered with a frown; his mother would have smacked him around the head and sent him to bed. "She told him that she never wanted to hear him say it again. She was more disappointed than angry." He said thoughtfully.

"The whole family is weird." Myra announced before moving away from him to get more glasses.

"Don't say that." Eli snapped angrily. "They are really nice, friendly people and they brought Phia back to us." He added trying to calm himself down.

"Ok, whatever." She responded sarcastically. "By the way, what happened between you and Phia? Yesterday you would jump a mile when she moved her hand. Now you are acting as if it never happened."

"I promised Phia I wouldn't tell anyone about what happened between us." He frowned at Myra. "That includes you." He added trying to stop the conversation from going any further. She must have realised he didn't want to talk about it because she didn't say anything else and went to take her tray of drinks back to the table. He finished getting all the cokes on his tray and followed her back to the table.

"Ok Raya, here's your coke." He placed her coke down and went back over to the other end of the table. "I've got your coke as well Rollie." He added whilst placing Rollie's coke down. "Then I've got four more cokes for myself and the girls." He announced as he sat down and passed a coke down the table to December, Caragh and Phia. "Do you like the coke, Rollie?" He asked the man sat next to him.

"I'm a little cautious to try it to be honest." He claimed, holding the glass at eye level and looking through at the black liquid. He then held the glass under his nose and sniffed it. "Well I suppose it looks and smell alright." He acknowledged before taking a small sip. As soon as the liquid had hit his taste buds his eyes had shot open. "Whoa, this is delicious." He stated and downing the rest of his glass. "And addictive. Can I have another glass please?" He asked Eli.

"Of course, I'll go get you one." Eli laughed.

The rest of the meal had been filled with Eli and Rollie talking about a multiple of different things including book, teaching and gardening, which Rollie was rather obsessed with. Ana would occasionally voice her opinion on whatever they were discussing but other than that she was quiet. Once Acuzio had finished his dinner and his water he had gone back to his thoughts and staring straight ahead. This in turn made Myra uncomfortable as it looked like he was staring right at her. Sovereign had finished his dinner and was now helping Thaz to eat his as he was making a mess. Raya was staring at Phia, Car and Ber with a look of hatred on her face. Her parents were whispering to each other, which Eli thought was rather hypocritical of them as they told Sov off for doing it only a few hours ago. The girls were sat eating and talking together as if they had been friends for years. Eli looked back to Rollie who was still talking about the flowers he was planning on planting tomorrow because he had the day off. He noticed that Acuzio was smirking at something, it looked rather suspicious but who knew what he was thinking.

* * *

Acuzio had been thinking about the letter he had received this morning from his best friend Melpomene. He never knew how to pronounce her name and although he hated shortening anyone's name, he called her Mel like everyone else did. They had been best friends since birth. Her parents were his God parents and his parents were her God parents. She had been born on the 30th January 1998, one day before him, and she never let him forget that she was older. Even though they only lived a few houses down from them they still preferred to talk through letters. All they ever talked about was their siblings, Hogwarts and how unfair it was that Acuzio had to go to Muggle School.

Mel had a lot of siblings she was one of nine. Her parents had given all her kids strange names, apparently in Greek mythology there were nine muses and Mel's mother had given each of her children a muse's name. The muses, however, were hard names to pronounce so he ended up just using their shortened names. The eldest were boy/girl twins Calliope and Clio. He didn't know how to say Calliope's name so he called him Call like everyone else. Clio was currently dating Sovereign. They were born the same year and Clio, Call and Sovereign were best friends. They were also in the same house at school. The second eldest were boy twins Erato and Euterpe or Era and Terp as everyone called them. They were going into fourth year and according to Mel they were both in a band with boy/girl twin Eros and Eris. Also apparently Era and Eris were dating but this could just be gossip. Next was Mel. Then it was her sister Polymnia or Poly. Next there was boy/girl twins Thalia and Terpsichore. He called Thalia by her name because he could pronounce it but he had never even made an attempt to call Terpsichore by his given name. Everyone called him Chore because his older brother Euterpe was called Terp for short. After them was Mel's last sister Urania, which wasn't hard to pronounce.

Mel had told him how Era, Terp, Eris and Eros had been practising their music all day and how she had a massive headache so she had stolen their guitars and drum sticks and locked them in a cupboard with a boggart. He had actually laughed at this; she was showing some very Slytherin potential. Acuzio smirked at the thought of her older siblings opening the cupboard door to find their instruments and a Boggart.

He realised he had been lost in his own thoughts again and refocused on his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was the Myra woman looking at him terrified. She had been staring at him all night. He then saw that Eli was staring at him as well. Acuzio then realised he had been smirking like an idiot at his thoughts and he had probably been staring straight at Myra whilst in his thinking state. No wonder she looked terrified, Mel often commented that when he went into his thinking state he looked really evil. That on top of the smirk would just be too much. He could just imagine Mel slapping him on his shoulder to bring him back into his surroundings. She would always laugh at him when he went into his thinking state and he would glare at her, which would make her laugh louder. This in turn made him laugh.

He then realise once again he had gone into his thinking state and he adjusted himself to his surroundings once again only to see that Myra had actually pushed her chair away from the table and was shaking in fear. He had probably being evil laughing out loud from the memory of him and Mel. He would have to tell her this; she would laugh and tell him if he thought the thinking state and the smirk was too much, what did he think it was when you add the evil laugh into the mix. Myra probably thought he was the devil or something. He started laughing again, but this time it was a full bellied laugh.

He heard the noise of a door slam close by and the scrape of a chair a few seconds later. He was curious were the noise had come from, and then he heard someone call his name and touch his shoulder and he understood he had been in his thinking state yet again. He focused in on his surroundings and saw that both Myra and Eli had left the table. He looked at his mother who was still touching his shoulder.

"When did Elijah and that Myra woman leave." He asked his mother.

"Just now." She replied with a worried look. "You were in your thinking state again." She added.

"I know I was. I can usually tell when I'm in it, you know." He announced knowing full well she already knew this.

"Well you were staring at Myra, and then you started smirking at her rather suspiciously. You then laughed slightly and she jumped in terror. Next thing that happens is you start fully laughing but you were still staring directly into her eyes in your thinking state. She got up and ran away shaking. Eli ran after her and I brought you back." She explained to him what had happened.

"You need to learn how to control yourself, son." His father stated.

"You know I can't, I just get really bored and slip into the thinking state. I don't even know I'm in the state until I'm either pulled out of it by someone or something or until I realise I'm in the state myself and I pull myself out." Acuzio explained to his parents.

"Well I'll go talk to Eli and Myra and explain." Rollie announced as he stood up and went to in the direction they had run off in a minute ago.

Rollie came back a few minutes later with Myra and Eli. Eli was smiling at Acuzio strangely but in a kind way as if he understood. 'How could he understand my feelings, he isn't me' Acuzio thought furiously. Myra, however, was still looking at him awkwardly. Acuzio didn't care, it wasn't as if he would ever see her again and he generally didn't care what people thought about him to begin with.

* * *

Everyone had now finished their dinner and the waitresses had come and collected the plates and glasses. Sophia didn't want the Phelps to leave because she knew that as soon as they left she would be punished for running away. Her parents would probably take their anger that had built up over the afternoon out on her as well. She knew they were angry because of the glares they were sending Rollie and Ana and basically the entire Phelps family. They obviously didn't approve of the way Rollie and Ana treated their kids as equals and with respect. Phia couldn't wait to go to school in a month's time and see Car and Ber. She was going to ask Car and Ber just before they left if they could be friends and play together in the playground. She hoped they said yes because she really liked the two girls. They were very different compared to the other girl at her school. They just kept to themselves in a corner of the lunch hall or playground. They rarely talked to anyone beside themselves. She hoped that Soraya would be open to letting them join their group. At school Phia and Raya like to keep to themselves. They had other friends they would sometimes talk to but she got bored of them soon after starting a friendship, she just felt like they had nothing in common with them. Soraya, however, still hung around with their old friends when Phia was at Maths club.

"Well, I think it's time we left. It was a lovely meal. How much do we owe you?" Rollie asked Alexander with his trademark smile.

"Oh no Rollie, It's on the house. Think of it as a thank you, for bringing my sister home." Eli replied standing up to see the family to the door.

Sophia stood up as well and made her way to the main door with Car and Ber following her. Rollie and Ana were stood outside now talking to Alexander, Florance and Elijah. Sovereign had Balthazar perched on his hip. Thaz had his arms wrapped round his brothers neck and had his head snuggles into his shoulder. It looked like he was asleep. Sovereign went outside and stood next to his mother who kissed Thaz on his head and stroked his hair. She whispered something to Sovereign and he walked out of Sophia's line of view. Sophia walked outside to see where Sovereign had gone but couldn't see him; she assumed he had taken Thaz home. She had wanted to say goodbye to him because she wouldn't see him again during the holidays and he went back to school in September. She would tell Car and Ber to say bye for her. Caragh and December were now walking over to her and they sat down at the same table Sophia was sat at.

"We're going now but we'll probably see you during the holidays. Won't we?"December asked hopefully.

"I probably won't see you again until we go back to school. As soon as you leave my parents will shout at me for running away and ground me for about a year." Phia replied sadly. She really wanted to see them again before they went back to school

"Oh, right." Was all December could say disappointedly.

"When I see you at school, can Soraya and I hang around with you at break and lunch? It's alright if you don't want to but you two are really cool and I want to be friends with you. If that's alright with you?" Sophia asked the two girls awkwardly awaiting their answer. She waited for about five seconds but there was no answer so she looked up at the two girls who were staring straight at her. They both smiled at the same time.

"Of course we'll be your friend, but I'm not sure Soraya wants to hang with us. She's being giving us weird look all afternoon." Caragh finally answered.

"Well, she's probably jealous because I'm quite angry at her at the moment. It's a long story so I'll save it for another time. Do you have a phone number? I could call you over the holidays and talk to you for about 15 minutes, but I daren't risk talking any longer in case I get caught." Sophia asked her new friends.

"We don't have a phone but we could send you letters with Dilly." December suggested.

"Who's Dilly?" Sophia asked with a frown.

"Oh, he's our owl. We use him to send letters to Sov when he's at school." December answered as if everyone had an owl to send letters.

"You have an owl!" Phia exclaimed with her eyes wide open. "And you use him to send owls. How did you even train him?" She asked with another frown on her face.

* * *

"Erm, well, I… I don't…" December stuttered in confusion. She thought everyone knew that owls delivered the letters and papers.

"December… Caragh… We're leaving now. Say goodbye to Phia." Her mother called over to her and Caragh. 'Thank you mother' she thought. She had no idea how she was going to tell Phia about Dilly. She would have to ask her mother and send a reply in a letter.

"Bye Phia, I'll write to you tomorrow morning with a reply to your question." December turned and walked toward her mother and father, who were waiting near the corner, so she didn't have to answer Phia's question now.

* * *

"See you later Phia." Caragh said as she pulled her new best friend into a hug. "We're going to be best friends at school." She announced before turning and skipping after her mother, father and siblings.

She had just turned the corner when she heard Mrs Martin shout at Phia.

"GET INSIDE NOW."


	12. The Grounding

**Author's Note: I would like to thank the Guest who commented for commenting. I wasn't really sure people were liking my story but now i know at least you and CLJP do so you have given me what i was looking for to continue writing this story. Thank You.**

**Enjoy x**

* * *

Sophia was still sat at the table outside watching her new best friend skip around the corner. Sophia was still waving even though Caragh had already gone round the corner and couldn't see her anymore.

"GET INSIDE NOW" Her mother shouted at her. Sophia got up and walked towards the door, 'This was going to be a long night.' She thought to herself as she walked throught the door and into the pub. Elijah and Myra were putting the tables back to their original places. Elijah kept looking back over towards her and their parents. She flashed him a smile that said she was alright. Eli just shook his head and got back to sorting out chairs. Sophia looked around the bar and saw her father was behind the bar drinking a glass of something, probably whiskey, he liked whiskey. She assumed Soraya had gone upstairs because she couldn't see her sister anywhere. 'Good' she thought to herself. She really didn't like Raya much at the moment ever since she had left her sister in the trees to get attacked by the dog. 'I could have died' she thought to herself again. 'If it wasn't for the… well I don't know what I did but Eli said he will help me. Always.' She smiled to herself until her mother took her wrist and started pulling her.

* * *

Elijah was looking back at Phia; she was smiling to herself strangely as if she was content with something. He couldn't help but smile at her, she was happy about something and he wished he knew what. Eli then saw their mother grab Phia's wrist and drag her towards the stairs. Phia's smile had gone away and there was a look of fear in her eyes though the rest of her face wasn't showing it. He quickly made his way over to the stairs and got to the first step before his mother.

"What are you doing?" Eli asked his mother in disgust at the way she was holding his sister's wrist.

"I don't think that is any of your business but I'm taking her upstairs for a little talk." His mother replied innocently.

"By a little chat you mean you're going to shout at her and lock her in her room for the rest of the holiday. I won't let you do that." Eli spat at his mother.

"And what are you going to do about it. She needs to be punished for what she did." His mother was now shouting at him. She didn't deny that she was going to lock her in her room which made him angry.

"I won't let you lock her up like you did to me." He shouted back.

* * *

He hated the memory of what his parents had done to him. He used to be terrified of his parents. At the time he had been 13 years old, he had walked into the pub main door and his parents turned to face him. His mother for frowning at him and his father just looked disappointed. He wondered what he had done this time. He spent half of his childhood grounded.

Before that day when they grounded him, he was confined the upstairs living area. However after that day grounded meant being locked in his bedroom as soon as he got home from school. His bedroom had an en suite so he couldn't use the 'I need the toilet' excuse to leave his room. They also only fed him two meals a day. He would get a bowl of porridge for breakfast because they knew he hated porridge. He refused to eat the porridge which left him really hungry at lunch. At school he had a school dinner so he would eat it all and any leftovers his friends had. When he got home he was locked in his room from the outside and he had nothing to do so he would have no choice to do his homework. This caused his grades to rise. If he had been good from being locked in his room to sinner time he would be feed a cooked meal but a small portion. If he had been bad he would get a sandwich. He had lost quite a bit of weight after that even though he had only been grounded for a month. He still wasn't sure what he had actually done to deserve it, his mother had said something about him getting a detention for not doing his homework.

After his first lock up he tried even harder to never let it happen again but it did. If he came home 10 minutes late he was grounded and locked up for a week. If he got a grade lower than his average he was grounded and locked up for a week. On his 16th birthday he had gone out with friends and they had brought alcohol and cigarettes but he knew if he had any he would be grounded and locked up for a year so he hadn't had any but his mother had smelt the cigarettes and alcohol on him and he was grounded and locked up for 5 months. It had been the worst 5 moths of his life. During that 5 month period his mother had come into his room and told him she was pregnant with twins. That day he vowed to never let them lock his little sibling up like they had to him.

* * *

He looked straight into his mother's eyes telling her through his dark look that he wasn't afraid of her anymore. She actually smiled as if she liked the memory of locking him up. It made him feel sick.

"I am staying her e tonight." Was all he said before he grabbed Sophia's hand and pulled her up the stairs with him gently. When they reached the top of the stairs he saw Soraya's head peaking around the corner of her bedroom door. "I would shut that if I were you." He sneered at her. She snapped her head back into her room and slammed the door shut. He took Sophia over to the couch and sat her down. "Don't say anything unless she directly asks you a question. I will do the rest of the talking. Trust me I know how to handle her in this situation." He gave her a sad smile.

"I trust you."She confidently said. "Always." She added which made his smile a little happier.

His heard his mother and father walking up the stairs and quickly whispered to Phia.

"I can't stop them from grounding you or locking you up but I can lower the time period they set you." Sophia smiled at him with hopeful eyes.

"Where's Soraya?" His father asked out loud to no one in particular.

"In her room, I don't think she should be out here." Elijah answered glaring at his father. His father was a coward, he could easily stand up to his wife but he never did, he always backed down.

"Ok well let's get started." His father replied as if they were in an actual courtroom. Eli looked at his mother and saw that she was red with rage and anger. She started pacing back and forth in front of him and Phia. His father took a seat on the couch opposite them.

"I don't know where to begin." His mother started.

* * *

"I don't know where to begin." Her mother started. She was pacing in front of her and Eli. He had told her to trust him and he would try and reduce the time period she would be locked up for. She did trust Eli, she realised she trusted him more than any other person she knew.

"Ok, so why did you run away?" Her mother was still pacing so she didn't know if this question was directed at her or not. She looked at Eli who nodded at her, telling her that she should answer the question.

"I… I don't know." Phia hoped her mother wouldn't tell her off for too long, she was tired.

"YOU DON'T KNOW. YOU'RE THE ONE THAT RAN AWAY. YOU SHOULD KNOW WHY." Her mother was now shouting at her and waving her hands about. "WELL?" She added looking for an answer.

* * *

He saw Phia struggling to answer the question. He needed to do something; it wasn't going well so far.

"It was my fault." He spluttered out to draw the attention away from Phia.

"HOW THE HELL WAS IT YOU FAULT." His mother continued to shout.

"Well, you already know about the incident with the dog in the park. Well I saw it happen but I was frozen still in shock. All I could do was watch. Afterwards all I could think about was how cowardly I had been and that Phia must hate me now. Although when she looked at me I probably had a look of hatred in my eyes and so she thought I hated her for going into the trees and nearly getting attack by a dog but I don't hate her at all." Elijah hoped he had made sense in explaining it. It wasn't a complete lie just a stretching of the truth. He looked at Phia who was already looking at him she flashed him a quick smile which told him she would back up his story if asked.

"IS THAT TRUE, SOPHIA?" His mother shouted at Phia make sure to place emphasis on her name.

"Yes," Phia answered quietly.

"Why did you go to the Phelps house?" Their mother was now talking in a quieter voice but it was still louder than an inside voice should be.

"I didn't know they lived there. I just hid in their garden until Eli passed but I fell asleep." Sophia answered arguing her case. Eli though she was doing pretty well, a lot better than he did.

"You didn't have to bring them back to our home. They know where were live know, they will probably come back at some point during the holidays." His mother was now talking mainly to herself.

"What's wrong with them coming back?" He asked his mother wondering what she had against them. They hadn't done anything wrong whilst they had been here. They had acted a little strangely but that was just his opinion. They were raised differently and what Eli thought was strange would probably be normal for the Phelps'.

"They are a weird family and I don't want us to mix with them. Sophia I ban you from becoming friends with those to girls at school. Hopefully we will never see them again." His mother had crossed the line and he knew it. He also knew that he couldn't stop Sophia if she lashed out at her. Then a thought crossed his mind. 'What if she gets really angry and the power thing happens. It might not just happen when she is scared.' He looked at his sister and saw that she was rubbing her hand up and down her right arm as if it was tingling. He had to stop her from lashing out but how.

* * *

"Well you're too late because I've already asked them if we can be friends at school and they said yes. Car even said that we were going to be best friends." Sophia was angry at her mother for telling her what to do. She liked being independent. When her mother had banned her from being friends with Car and Ber, she had felt the warmth pulsing around her body again and she knew that the wind was going to start spinning around them soon. Her arms were tingling and she started to rub them to try and make it stop. She suddenly felt a lot braver like she had yesterday when at the park. She glared into her mother's eyes and had told her how they were already friends. The tingling sensation was starting to spread from her arms. She looked at Eli with a worried look on her face. She needed his help now more than ever.

"Well you'll just have to unfriend them won't you, because I will not associate myself with that family?" Her mother seemed unaware of he looks that were being passed forward and back between her and Eli.

"THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THE PHELPS FAMILY. I LIKE THEM, THEY HELPED ME AND I'M NOT GOING TO UNFRIEND THEM BECAUSE YOU DON'T LIKE THEM." Sophia was scared now. Not of her mother's reaction to her shouting but because he tingling sensation had now spread to her legs. She knew if the wind thing happened again hey would be really angry and lock her up for longer than they would if she didn't use it.

"That whole family is a bunch of weirdo's. Did you see how they invited themselves over for dinner? I don't know how they moved the tables together so quickly-"Her mother carried on rambling on about the Phelps but Sophia couldn't hear her anymore. At her mother's mention of them moving the tables together a memory suddenly came from nowhere. She had completely forgotten what she had seen. Now she thought back, Phia could remember it clearly. Sovereign had been looking in her direction but it wasn't her he was staring at it was something behind her. Sophia turned around in time to see Rollie putting a stick inside his coat pocket. 'What is he doing carrying a stick around for,' Sophia thought to herself. They had locked eyes and Rollie had turned pale like he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing. 'Maybe he was doing something he wasn't supposed to. I'll have to ask Caragh why her father carries a stick.' Sophia realised she had been spaced out for a while and refocused in on the situation around her and found her mother staring at her furiously.

"Well?" Her mother asked her but Phia had no idea what the question was. She looked to Eli for help but their mother just snapped at her. "Don't look at your brother for help and answer me."

"What was the question again?" Sophia asked in a confident voice hiding the fact that she was scared of what her mother would do to her.

"Do you ever listen to us? It seems as if you're always daydreaming, like that Phelps boy, Acuzio. What is so interesting in your head that made you stop listening?" Her mother didn't even pause to let her answer. "I'm sick of you Sophia. You've been acting really naughty recently. Going off on your own at the park, running away from home, inviting riff-raff in off the street, and you lost us a lot of money giving away free meals." Her mother was angrily pointing at Sophia at every accusation.

"I was the one that gave them the free meal, not Phia." Elijah explained coming to her defence.

"I don't care, you're both in this together, and since I can't ground you, Sophia will just get grounded for longer." Their mother was staring between the two of them happily.

"You can't do that, it's not fair on Phia." Eli angrily said standing up to confront his mother.

"I don't care. Sophia you are grounded until the 1st of January 2008. I don't want to hear anything about it, now go to your room. I don't want to see you again today and your bedroom has a toilet and sink so don't bother trying to use the 'I need the toilet excuse'." At that moment she looked at Eli and smirked. Something about that smirk told Sophia that Eli had used that excuse before and failed.

* * *

Sophia got up from the couch and walked towards her bedroom at the end of the hall. As she walked past her sister's room, the door opened and Soraya was standing with her arms crossed staring and Sophia. Sophia stared back innocently knowing that her sister was going to say something about her grounding.

"I hear you got grounded til next year." Soraya announced with a smile that told Phia she was trying not to laugh.

"Congratulations, you have perfect hearing. Now if you don't mind I'm tired and think I will go have a lie down." Sophia felt proud at her response and turned swiftly on her heel and started making her way towards her bedroom again.

"Don't you walk away from me?" Soraya expressed with a slight anger at being ignored. Soraya always liked getting the attention whilst Sophia preferred to stand in the back ground and watch everyone else. Sophia ignored her sister and carried on walking. She thought her sister had given up and gone back into her run, until a hand suddenly gripped her wrist. Sophia felt threatened and in a split second the tingling sensation was back but only in her hands. She grabbed the wrist of the person holding her hand and heard a faint sizzling noise as if bacon was cooking. Soraya gasped in pain and tried to free her wrist but Sophia wouldn't let go, she was still confused about the noise.

"Let go or I'll scream." Soraya threatened. Sophia realised she was still holding her sister's wrist and let go of it. Soraya gasped again but this time in shock.

"Look what you've done!" She exclaimed. Sophia looked down at Soraya's wrist and saw that just where her hand had been second ago, there was a bright red burn mark. Sophia frowned in confusing, 'Had she really done that.' She looked up into her sister's eyes and smirked. She then took a step towards her sister and whispered into her ear.

"If you tell anyone, I'll do worse." Sophia then turned on her heel again and skipped towards her room feeling much happier. She then stopped as her hand was about to turn the door handle and looked back down the hall to see her Soraya staring at her with her mouth open. "Oh, and you might want to apply cold water to the burn." Sophia turned to door handle went into her room and shut her door behind her with a smile on her face.


	13. The Owl Postage Service

**Author's Notes: Hey readers. Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while but I break up for Christmas tomorrow so I should be able to write mre Chapter's for bot my FF's. But then again I might not because my exams are in January and I have a lot of revision to do if I even want to think about passing. :D **

**No promises but I'll try and upload sometime after Christmas!**

**Please Review. Whenever I get a review it make my day a lot more happier. **

**x**

* * *

1st August 2007

Sophia woke up that morning to something nibbling at her fingers. It took her a while to realise that it wasn't a dream and there was in fact something in her room nibbling her. She shot up in bed which obviously startled whatever was attacking her because it fell on the floor. Sophia carefully peaked over the side of her bed to see the most beautiful bird she had ever seen sat on the floor sorting its feathers out.

The bird was a gorgeous golden colour with pale brown wings and white circles around its eyes. Looking closer Sophia realised that there was something attached to its leg. Slowly Sophia reached her hand out and cautiously patted the bird on its head. He felt silky smooth and she started to stroke the animal which rubbed its head against her hand in appreciation. The bird suddenly flew into the air making Sophia jump, the bird flew around the room a couple of times before landing on the side bed railing and holding its leg with the letter on it out. Sophia assumed he wanted her to take it off so she obliged. After being freed from the letter the owl flew over to the window and perched itself on the window ledge. Sophia stared at it for a few seconds in amazement before opening the piece of paper which turned out to be a letter from December and Car.

_Dear Sophia,_

_I told you I would write in the morning. I hope Dilly doesn't annoy you but I've told him to stay with you until you write a letter in reply. _

_Have you been grounded? If so how Long for? I wasn't too sure what grounding was but my Mam said it is when a naughty child has certain privileges such as going out without the parents, eating sweets and watching television taken away. I'm not sure what a television is either. Could you tell me please?_

_Is being grounded is bad as my Mam described because I don't think I would be able to survive if I didn't go into the garden at least once a day. _

_I hope you didn't get into too much trouble. My Mam said a child shouldn't be punished unless they've made the same mistake often enough to know not to do it. I agree with her. _

_Write soon,_

_Love Ber X_

_P.S. Caragh has also added her letter with mine. _

_Hello Phia,_

_I hope you're alright, I heard your mother shout at you just as I went around the corner. I hope you didn't get into lots of trouble. _

_I know you've already said you don't want to talk about it but whatever happened between you and Eli, but it can't have been that bad if he's forgiven you for whatever you did. Eli seems like a really nice person. Sovereign really liked him as well. Sov also says sorry for leaving before he got a chance to say bye but Thaz was getting restless. He said he'll come to the pub to see you before he goes to back to school. I know you might not be allowed to see him because you're grounded, I told him this, but he said 'there's no harm in trying'. He's so philosophical and weird. _

_Please write back and ask if you need anything because Dilly can carry quite a lot of weigh. _

_Love Car x_

Sophia stared at her letters off her new best friends. They had put love and then their names and a kiss. Sophia knew it was stupid but she felt loved for a change. She knew Eli loved her but he had been at University for the past 4 years and she hasn't seen him a lot during that time. Her mother and father loved her in a 'you're my daughter so I have to love you' way but they never showed her how proud they were of her. Soraya had loved her at one point but over the past two days, neither girl liked the other very much.

Sophia got out of bed and decided that she wouldn't bother getting dressed as it was highly unlikely that she would be leaving her room at all for the rest of the holiday since she had a toilet and shower in her room. Phia went over to her desk and got out a note pad and a pen and began to write. Even though she was only six year old she could write better than most six year olds. The only six year old she knew who could write better was Caragh.

_To December,_

_Dilly is a beautiful owl, he did nibble at me this morning but it didn't hurt. It was more of a friendly nibble._

_Yes, I've been grounded until 1__st__ January 2008. It's forever. My brother has told me what it was like when he was grounded. He said that my Mam and Dad barely fed him because he had a cooked dinner at school. I'm going to be so hungry._

_How do you not know what a TV is? It's a machine that you can watch programmes on. I'll show you if you ever come over after my grounding is over._

_I also agree with your mother._

_I probably won't see you again until school begins in a month so I hope you can send me more letters with Dilly._

_Love Sophia X_

_To Caragh,_

_I'm fine, thanks for asking. I'm sorry you had to hear my Mam shout like that but I'm also glad because now you know she isn't as nice as she was acting last night. You're right, I thought that what I did to Eli was really bad but he forgave me and explained and he's going to help me with my problem. I'm sorry but I can't tell you about the problem. _

_Tell Sovereign that I probably won't be able to see until after my grounding is over but tell him to still try because you never know._

_Could you maybe send me a book with Dilly? Any book, I don't mind. All my books are on the bookshelf in the front room and I can't get them because I'm not allowed to leave my room._

_Love Sophia X_

_P.S. Could you also send me some plain paper to draw on, please? X_

Sophia tied the letters onto Dilly's leg and the owl flew out the window and toward where she assumed the Phelps lived.

Sophia laid back down on her bed after Dilly left. She didn't know how long it would take them to reply. She decided to get a bit more sleep since she didn't know what she was going to do for the rest of the day. She didn't know what she was going to do for six months.

Six whole months she was going to be locked in her room. Eli had told her the longest he had been locked up was for 2 months. She was already bored out of her mind and it had only been a few hours.

After the incident with her sister Sophia had laid down in her bed. She had only been lying there for a few minutes before she was fast asleep. She had been lying in bed for about five minutes when there was a quite knock on her door. It was around nine in the morning so she assumed it was her mother bringing her breakfast.

"Phia, it's me, Eli. Open the door." Elijah's voice came through the door in a whisper.

Sophia jumped out of bed and opened the door for Eli. She hoped he was brining her breakfast. Stood on the other side of the door was her brother holding two plates of food. He pushed his way into the room and placed the plates on her desk. Sophia stared at the plates in hunger, licking her lips. Elijah must have noticed as he started to chuckle.

"Breakfast is served." Elijah announced in a posh voice whilst bowing.

Sophia giggled but then she couldn't stare at the food any longer. She sat down at her desk and began to eat the meal her brother had made. There were pancakes with syrup, bacon, eggs, sausage, beans, toast and a glass of apple juice. Elijah had a bit of the bacon but let Sophia eat the rest of the food. After she had eaten the food Eli had given her, she realised he was risking a lot by bringing her food. What if her parents found out?

"What if Mam finds out?" Sophia nervously asked her brother.

"Don't worry about it Phia, Mam and Dad have gone shopping to by you some bread." Eli explained to her but Phia didn't understand why she needed bread. She looked at him with a frown urging him to explain further. "They'll only be feeding you toast for breakfast and tea until the New Year."

"The New Year, I'll starve." Sophia shouted at her brother.

"Shhhh, Raya is still asleep. Oh and do you know anything about the burn mark on Raya's wrist." Eli asked her with a knowing look.

"It was an accident. I promise. She grabbed my arm and I was surprised." Sophia started to explain but Elijah stopped her.

"It's ok, I'm sure she deserved it. Anyway, I'm going to help you control your gift. We won't be able to start until school. You can come to my classroom at lunchtime on a Monday and Friday. I'll have to do research before we can start. We need to find out if there any other peop… They're back. I better get these plates back to the kitchen. Don't tell them anything. I'll come see you before me and Myra leave. Bye Phia." Elijah said before kissing the top of her head and leaving, shutting the door behind him.

Sophia pulled her desk chair over to her window and sat down gazing out of it longing for Dilly to return with letters from her new best friends.

* * *

It had been an hour since December had sent Dilly to Sophia's bedroom window and she still hadn't had a reply yet. She had been sat in the garden next to the rose bush since she sent the letter and she was beginning to get bored. She decided to read a book while she waited so she went inside and into the study where the family's bookshelf was. She took a few minutes to decide which book to read before setting on her brother, Sovereign's, Herbology text book from first year called 'One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi'. After taking the book of the shelf she went back outside and sat back down next to the rose bush and started reading about the Shrivelfig.

After ten minutes of reading, December heard a hoot from above and looked up to see Dilly returning. She jumped up, closed the book and ran to the door but before running into the house she stopped and waited for Dilly to land on her shoulder. Once Dilly had landed, December ran into the house, up the stairs and into Caragh's room where she was sat at her desk writing something.

"Dilly's back." December exclaimed from the doorway. At the sound of his name, Dilly gave a loud hoot and stuck his leg with the letter on it in the air for December to take the letter off. December carefully took the letters off and gave Dilly some owl treats from her cloak pocket. After nibbling his treats the owl flew out of the open window.

"Did she write two letters or just one to the both of us?" Caragh asked excitedly as she jumped up from her desk chair after carefully hiding whatever she was writing in a desk draw. December made a note to have a look at whatever it was later.

"There's two letters." December answered and gave Caragh her letter as she opened her own.

_To December,_

_Dilly is a beautiful owl, he did nibble at me this morning but it didn't hurt. It was more of a friendly nibble. _

_Yes, I've been grounded until 1__st__ January 2008. It's forever. My brother has told me what it was like when he was grounded. He said that my Mam and Dad barely fed him because he had a cooked dinner at school. I'm going to be so hungry. How do you not know what a TV is? It's a machine that you can watch programmes on. I'll show you if you ever come over after my grounding is over._

_I also agree with your mother._

_I probably won't see you again until school begins in a month so I hope you can send me more letters with Dilly._

_Love Sophia X_

"Oh my, she's been grounded until the new year." December announced out loud.

"WHAT," Caragh shouted out shocked. "They can't do that to her. What else has she written?" Caragh asked.

"Erm, she says that when her brother was grounded they barely fed him much. Oh Merlin, she's going to be so hungry. She also says a TV is a machine you can watch programmes on.-" Ber was interrupted by Car.

"What is a 'Programme'?" Car asked confused

"I don't know, I'll ask her, now shush and let me finish." Ber answered with a frown. "She says she'll show us if we come over after her grounding is finished. Aw that's ages to wait. She agrees with Mother that a child shouldn't be grounded. Oh, and she wants us to send more letters with Dilly. What does yours say?" December asked her sister who was now re-reading her own letter.

* * *

Caragh was re-reading her letter.

_To Caragh,_

_I'm fine, thanks for asking. I'm sorry you had to hear my Mam shout like that but I'm also glad because now you know she isn't as nice as she was acting last night. You're right, I thought that what I did to Eli was really bad but he forgave me and explained and he's going to help me with my problem. I'm sorry but I can't tell you about the problem. _

_Tell Sovereign that I probably won't be able to see until after my grounding is over but tell him to still try because you never know._

_Could you maybe send me a book with Dilly? Any book, I don't mind. All my books are on the bookshelf in the front room and I can't get them because I'm not allowed to leave my room._

_Love Sophia X_

_P.S. Could you also send me some plain paper to draw on, please? X_

December had asked her what Sophia had sent her.

"She says she's fine, she's sorry and glad at the same time for me hearing her Mam shouting at her. She says that Eli has forgiven her and is going to help her with her problem-"Car was interrupted by Ber.

"What problem? I didn't know she had a problem. Did you?" Ber asked confused.

"I don't know, I'll ask her, now shush and let me finish." Car imitated Ber which always annoyed her sister. "Oh, she says she can't tell us her problem. She wants me to tell Sov that he probably won't be able to see her but that he should still try. She wants us to send her a book to read because her books are in her front room but she's not allowed out of her room to get them and she would also like some plain paper to draw on. Hmm, I didn't know she drew."

"I'm going to get her a few books to read and you can get the paper." December bossed Caragh. Caragh sighed and did as she was told. She hated being told what to do, especially by her little sister.

After collecting the paper she met back up with December in the study where the bookshelf was. December was staring at the bookshelf obviously no sure about which books to send to Phia.

"Well we can't send her a book on anything magical, so just pick a couple of Sov's Muggle books, like 'The Chronicles of Narnia'?" Caragh offered her opinion to December. She noticed Ber was thinking about it so she placed her hands on her hips and started tapping her foot, pretending to be annoyed.

"Yes, we'll send the Narnia books. There are seven books all together so it will probably last her until the New Year." December took the books off the shelf and placed them into a bag with the paper. They then went to find Dilly and give him the bag to take back to Phia. Once they found him, they gave him another treat to convince him to take the heavy load, and then watched as he flew off in the direction of Phia's bedroom window. After Dilly could no longer be seen Car and Ber went back into the house to wait for the return of their owl.


End file.
